  Recently Signed - In Stock
86 East Third Ave., San Mateo, CA 94401 Phone: 650-401-8077
OR Toll Free outside Bay Area: 888-405-8077
last updated: April 25th, 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
ABOUT THIS ARCHIVE
|
This archive of signed first editions lists
our current stock of RECENT releases.
They are alphabetical by author,
and are kept on the list for approximately
six weeks. These listings are updated weekly.
If you are looking for older signed books, or
specialty categories, use the catalogs on our
web site. We have six catalogs on our home
page (see buttons at left).
|
How to Order
|
To place an order:
email usor phone us (650)401-8077 (888)405-8077 toll free We accept Visa, MC, Amex and checks by arrangement We ship USPS Media mail within the US and USPS International Priority for overseas addresses Shipping rates: In the US - $6.50 for the first book $1.35 each additional book Overseas - email us to discuss the options |
|
|
|
OWEN SMITH POSTERS
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OWEN SMITH, nationally recognized artist known for his artworks for The New Yorker and Rolling Stone as well as numerous book covers, was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission in 2008 to create original works based on a theme for display in special kiosks on Market Street. Most recently, he did the cover illustration for Mark Coggins' new book, The Big Wake-Up, and appeared at "M" for that book event with the author. These posters are from Smith's "Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco" series. Each is SIGNED by the artist; 12" x 18" on heavy glossy stock, at $12.00 each.
|
|
 Recently Signed - In Stock
|
|
|
KATE ATKINSON - Started Early Took My Dog
|
 (Reagan Arthur Books, $24.99). 
Booklist starred: "This is the fourth entry in Atkinson's brilliant series featuring semi-retired detective Jackson Brodie. Feeling his age, Jackson is touring the ruined abbeys of northern England, a sucker for great landscapes and the poetry of Emily Dickinson (from which the novel's title is taken). He's also trying to track down the biological parents of a woman who was adopted as a child. How that case intersects with a series of crimes committed in Leeds in the 1970s is just one of the many strands Atkinson seamlessly weaves together; for its singular melding of radiant humor and dark deeds, this is must-reading for literary crime-fiction fans." PW also starred: "Atkinson injects wit even in the bleakest moments ... yet never loses her razor-sharp edge." |
|
|
LOUIS BAYARD - The School of Night
|
 (Henry Holt, $25.00)
PW starred: "Bayard (The Black Tower) shifts smoothly between present-day America and Elizabethan England in this superb intellectual thriller.... The author's persuasive portrayal of undeservedly obscure real-life scientist Thomas Harriot,... enhances a plot with intelligence and depth." And Booklist said: "It seems disgraced scholar Henry Cavendish's good friend, Alonzo Wax, a man of large appetites, has stolen a letter from ruthless antiquities collector Bernard Styles, who desperately wants it back. The letter purportedly contains a treasure map connected to the School of Night, a secretive intellectual club whose members included unheralded genius Thomas Harriot as well as Sir Walter Raleigh, who were well aware that discussing certain subjects in public could cost them their lives."
|
|
|
|
CARA BLACK - Murder in Passy
|
 (Soho, $25.00).
"Full of French political intrigue, Black's atmospheric 11th Aimée Leduc investigation (after 2010's Murder in the Palais Royal) finds the Paris PI's world turned upside down with the arrest of her godfather and longtime mentor, Commissaire Morbier, for murder..." said PW. And Library Journal praised: "Proprietor of a computer security business in Paris and protagonist of Black's atmospheric series (yes, you can feel the Seine-soaked cobblestones through your feet as your read), smart, tough, and utterly likable Aimée Leduc admits to a penchant for bad boys. Another fun, absorbing, well-plotted Aimée Leduc mystery, more brisk in the telling than ever; your passport to Paris next spring."
ALSO:
 'Murder in the Sentier' (Soho, 2002, $8.00) NF/NF. Signed. Light shelf wear.
NEW! Special 10th Anniversary Edition of the first in series, 'Murder in the Marais'
with a beautiful new cover ($9.99 trade paperback, SIGNED). |
|
|
|
MEG WAITE CLAYTON - The Four Ms. Bradwells
|
 (Ballantine, $25.00).
Meg Waite Clayton's national bestseller 'The Wednesday Sisters' was a word-of-mouth sensation and book club favorite. Mia, Laney, Betts, and Ginger, best friends since law school, have reunited for a long weekend as Betts awaits Senate confirmation of her appointment to the Supreme Court. Nicknamed "the Ms. Bradwells" during their first class at the University of Michigan Law School in 1979 -- when only three women had ever served full Senate terms and none had been appointed to the Court -- the four have supported one another through life's challenges: marriages and divorces, births and deaths, career setbacks and triumphs large and small. But when the Senate hearings uncover a deeply buried skeleton in the friends' collective closet, the Ms. Bradwells retreat to a summer house on the Chesapeake Bay, where they find themselves reliving a much darker period in their past -- one that stirs up secrets they've kept for, and from, one another, and could change their lives forever. |
|
|
|
|
MICHAEL CONNELLY - The Fifth Witness
|
 (Little Brown, $27.99)
Booklist starred: "Crime-fiction megastar Connelly can always be counted on to try something a little different.... It doesn't hurt, either, that the plot is meaty:.... Combining ripped-from-the-headlines information on the mortgage crisis with a cast of characters that defies stereotypes at every turn of the plot, Connelly shows once again that he will never simply ride the wave of past success. And, neither, apparently, will Mickey Haller, as he reveals a shocking change of direction in the novel's final pages." Library Journal said: "The story line is compelling, intense, and terrifying while providing an in-depth look at the mortgage crisis that is surprisingly interesting." And Kirkus concluded: "... the courtroom scenes -- thrust, parry, struggle for every possible advantage -- are grueling enough for the most exacting connoisseur of legal intrigue."
ALSO:
-- 'The Reversal' (Little Brown, 2010, $27.99) As New. Signed.
-- 'Nine Dragons' (Little Brown, 2009, $22.00) VF/VF. As New. Signed. |
|
|
|
|
CAROLA DUNN - Anthem for a Doomed Youth
|
 (St. Martin's, $24.99).
"The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher can't escape involvement in murder no matter how good her intentions. DCI Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard is called in when three bodies are found buried in the heart of Epping Forest in the spring of 1926.... The latest edition to Daisy's long string of investigations (Sheer Folly, 2009, etc.) is amusing and sprightly, and as evocative of the period as ever," said Kirkus. And PW praised: "...Dunn's enjoyable 19th Daisy Dalrymple mystery will please fans of traditional English whodunits.... The aristocratic but very modern Daisy makes a formidable amateur sleuth as she acts to stop more murders and get justice for the victims." |
|
|
|
|
JASPER FFORDE - One of Our Thursdays is Missing
|  (Viking, $25.95).
"Fforde's diabolical meshing of insight and humor makes a 'minefield' both frightening and funny, while the reader must traverse a volume that's a minefield of unexpected and amusing twists," said PW. And from the Independent (UK): "Fforde's books are more than just an ingenious idea. They are written with buoyant zest and are tautly plotted. They have empathetic heroes and heroines who nearly make terrible mistakes and suitably dastardly villains who do. They also have more twists and turns than Christie, and are embellished with the rich details of Dickens or Pratchett." |
|
BRIAN FREEMAN - The Bone House
| ( St. Martin's, $24.99)
"At the start of this solid stand-alone from Freeman (Immoral and three other titles in his Duluth, Minn., crime series), former high school teacher Mark Bradley is on vacation in Florida with his wife, Hilary. The previous year, accusations of an affair with a female student ruined Mark's teaching career in Wisconsin's Door County, where he and Hilary had moved to escape Chicago. Even though Tresa Fischer insisted that her crush on Mark was nothing more than that, the tight-knit community shunned the Bradleys and labeled Mark a predator. When 16-year-old Glory, Tresa's wild-child younger sister, turns up dead on a beach near Mark and Hilary's hotel, Mark becomes the number one murder suspect. Det. Cab Bolton, who isn't one to jump to conclusions, travels from Florida to Wisconsin to unravel Mark -- and Glory's -- complicated lives. Well-developed characters and a thrilling climax..." said PW.
ALSO:
--  'The Watcher' (Headline, 2008, $22.00) UK Edt. TPBO. |
|
HOWARD GORDON - Gideon's War
|
 (Touchstone, $24.99).
"This explosive debut novel by the veteran producer of 24 and The X-Files thrusts you into the world of Gideon Davis, an international peace negotiator. After returning from a successful mission, he is given the most important assignment of his career from his father figure and deputy national security adviser, Earl Parker: within 24 hours, he must bring in his estranged brother, Tillman, a rogue agent who has agreed to surrender only to Gideon. Upon landing in Mohan, an independent state between Malaysia and the Philippines, Gideon begins his hunt. This is an essential read for fans of political and action thrillers. Gordon does a superb job of drawing you in and making you care about the characters while forcing you to ask 'What will happen next?' at every turn," said Library Journal.
|
|
|
DAVID HEWSON - The Fallen Angel
| ( Delacorte, $25.00).
"Near the start of Hewson's accomplished ninth novel featuring Roman detective Nic Costa, an eccentric English scholar, Malise Gabriel, falls to his death from a balcony, and Nic finds the man's lovely 17-year-old daughter, Mina, kneeling over his body on the street. The neighborhoods of Rome offer satisfying texture, as does Roman history -- in particular, the dramatic story of another daughter, Beatrice Cenci, who was executed centuries earlier for killing the father who molested her. Gabriel's death may be an echo of that tale, an accident, or something more complicated. Readers will have a lot of fun peeling away the book's many layers, right down to the final, closing twist." |
|
RUSSELL HILL - The Dog Sox
|  (Caravel Books, $16.00 TPBO).
Russell Hill's two previous novels, 'Robbie's Wife' and 'The Lord God Bird' both received Edgar Award nominations. Ray Adams buys his girlfriend, beautiful Ava Belle, a baseball team for her birthday. She loves dogs and baseball. Ray's gift is a broken-down semi-pro team in California's Central Valley, with a 70-year-old Jewish manager who's been in baseball for fifty years and breaks into Yiddish homilies when the going gets tough. He assembles a rag-tag lineup of sheetrockers, farm laborers, wanna-be big leaguers, and a freak submarine pitcher -- 10-year-old Billy Collins. The only problem is that Billy has a drunken, abusive father who, when he shows up at the ballpark, causes Billy to fall apart. How to get rid of Bucky Collins becomes a primary goal, not just for the team's sake, but for Billy's. Rough him up? Pay him off? See that he has an "accident"? With him around, the team and Billy are simply not functional. |
|
CARA HOFFMAN - So Much Pretty
|
 (Simon & Schuster, $25.00)
Booklist called it "A mixture of The Lovely Bones and 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.... Hoffman's narrative oscillates between various characters, carefully building suspense, depth, and new insight with every chapter. Let's hope we will be seeing more of this talented new writer." And the New York Times crime columnist Marilyn Stasio said: "In her fearless first novel... Cara Hoffman demolishes our illusions about country life by addressing the problems of poverty, domestic abuse, teenage violence and environmental damage that are threatening to destroy the small communities of rural America. For all the passion in this intense narrative, Hoffman writes with a restraint that makes poetry of pain."
|
|
|
J.A. JANCE - Fatal Error
|
 (Touchstone, $25.99).
"After successfully completing training at the Arizona Police Academy, Ali Reynolds is furloughed by the Yavapai County Sheriff's Department because of budget cuts. So when Brenda Riley, a former TV journalist gone to seed, asks for help in finding her online fiancé, Ali is game. A 'pushy broad' who's about to become a grandmother, Ali has the savvy and the resources (wealth from her late husband and technical assistance from High Noon) to go where an investigation leads. This sixth outing in the series (after Trial by Fire, 2009) offers an entertaining mix of sleuthing and human relationships," said Booklist.
ALSO:
-- "Day of the Dead" (Wm. Morrow, 2004, $8.00) NF/F. Signed. Light shelf wear. -- "Fire & Ice" (Wm. Morrow, 2009, $29.00) VF/NF+. Signed. Crease in book flap. -- "Hand Of Evil" (Touchstone, 2007, $14.00) F/F. Signed -- "Long Time Gone" (Wm. Morrow, 2005, $6.00) VG+/NF. Signed. Light shelf wear. -- "Rattlesnake Crossing" (Avon Books, 1998. $6.00) NF/F. Light shelf wear at top of spine. -- "Trial by Fire" (Touchstone, 2009, $16.00) VF/VF. Signed.
|
|
GRAHAM JOYCE - The Silent Land
| ( Doubleday, $23.99)
"Near the outset of this gently haunting fantasy thriller from British author Joyce (Requiem), a freak avalanche buries Zoe and Jake, a couple on a skiing holiday near the Pyrenean resort town of Saint-Bernard-en-Haut. After digging out, they find themselves the only inhabitants of the unnaturally silent landscape.... Joyce brings freshness to this familiar supernatural scenario by emphasizing the humanness of his characters over the weirdness of the phenomena," said PW. And the New York Times said: "Stark, layered, ominous and yet appealing.... Luckily for the reader, in the end Mr. Joyce delivers relief along with satisfaction and wonder." |
|
STEFAN KANFER - Tough Without A Gun
|  (Knopf, $26.95).
"Humphrey Bogart was 42 before in 1941 he broke through as an A-list star in The Maltese Falcon and High Sierra. He was dead of lung cancer a mere 16 years later. Yet, as Kanfer points out in his revealing account of Bogart's life and legacy, Bogie, in those few short years, established a cinematic identity that lives on across generations. Kanfer thoroughly covers the relatively familiar ground of Bogart's upbringing as the rebellious child of blue-blood parents; his long apprenticeships, first in the theater and then playing bad guys in the movies; and, finally, his brief but iconic years of stardom. Beyond that, though,... is the emphasis on the actor's 'afterlife,' the way that somehow his persona -- 'integrity, stoicism, sexual charisma accompanied by a cool indifference to women' -- has never gone out of style..." said Booklist. And PW called it "an entertaining, definitive portrait, enriched with delightful digressions into Bogie's noirish, rough-hewn persona." |
|
DONNA LEON - Drawing Conclusions
| ( Atlantic, $24.00)
Booklist starred Leon's 20th book, calling it "... one of her best.... So what makes the book stand out? It's simply this: Brunetti walks around Venice a lot in this novel, and when he walks, he muses. And when he muses, the reader listens almost hypnotically, transfixed by the somehow ennobling ordinariness of this remarkable man's humanity but also by the subtlety of his mind and his absolute refusal to succumb to the tyranny of bureaucrats and moralists.... over the last several years, [Leon] has become a must-read for all those who favor character-driven crime stories." And PW concluded: "Leon provides a vivid view of Venice, balancing the city's "glory days" with the reality of "the flaking dandruff of sun-blasted paint peeling from shutters." Compassionate yet incorruptible, Brunetti knows that true justice doesn't always end in an arrest or a trial." |
|
DONNA LEON - Handel's Bestiary
| ( Grove/Atlantic, $27.50)
Signed bookplates; includes CD with 64 mins. of Handel's music! When acclaimed novelist Donna Leon is not conjuring up tales of crime and corruption in Venice, or reveling in delicious cuisine, she is listening to music. For Leon, patron of conductor Alan Curtis and his celebrated orchestra Il Complesso Barocco, that usually means the work of her favorite composer, George Frideric Handel. Over the years, Leon has noticed that the great musician filled his operas with arias that make reference to animals; rich in symbolism, the perceived virtues and vices of the lion, bee, nightingale, snake, elephant, and tiger, among others, resonate in his works. In 'Handel's Bestiary,' Leon draws on her love of Handel and her expertise in medieval bestiaries -- illustrated collections of animal stories -- to assemble a bestiary of her own. Twelve chapters trace twelve animals through history, mythology, and the arias. Each is joined by whimsical original illustrations by German painter Michael Sowa, and an accompanying CD includes each aria, expertly recorded by Il Complesso Barocco.
ALSO:
-- 'The Anonymous Venetian' (UK: MacMillan, 1994, 1st/1st, $220.00) Signed and inscribed "To Peggy, As ever, with my love, Donna" on title page. NF/NF. Very light shelf wear, pages browning. -- 'Death And Judgment' (HarperCollins, 1995, 1st/1st, $219.00) Signed. F-/F. Pages browning. -- 'Death In A Strange Country' (HarperCollins, 1993, 1st/1st, $275.00) Signed. Also signed and inscribed on dedication page under "For Peggy Flynn" "the best of friends, love Don -." F/F. Pages browning. -- 'A Sea Of Troubles' (UK: William Heinemann, 20011st/1st, $69.00) . Signed. F-/F Pages browning. |
|
SOPHIE LITTLEFIELD - Aftertime
|  (Luna, $14.95 trade paperback original).
"Littlefield (A Bad Day for Pretty) turns what could be just another zombie apocalypse into a thoughtful and entertaining exploration of many themes, including genetic engineering, social collapse, and motherhood. Cass, a young mother and recovering alcoholic, awakens filthy and gashed in the California wilderness, with no memory of the past several weeks. Littlefield has a gift for pacing, her adroit and detailed world-building going down easy amid page-turning action and evocative, sensual, harrowing descriptions that bring every paragraph of this thriller to life."
ALSO:
-- 'A Bad Day For Pretty' (Minotaur, 2010, $24.99) As New. Signed.
-- 'Banished' (Delacorte, 2010, $16.99). As New. Signed. |
|
LISA LUTZ & DAVID HAYWARD - Heads You Lose
|  (Putnam, $24.95).
"In this experimental California improv, Lutz (The Spellman Files) writes odd-numbered chapters and footnoted barbs directed at her coauthor and ex-boyfriend, poet Hayward, whose even-numbered chapters and stiletto-sharp ripostes add a freaky dimension to the collaboration. Grown siblings Lacey and Paul Hansen are scratching out a precarious living from a Northern California clandestine marijuana operation when a reeking headless human body turns up in their backyard,... Because Lutz and Hayward agreed not to discuss or to undo a plot development the other had produced, they create a jittery black-comic narrative complicated by inter-author tensions unveiled in memos exchanged at the end of each chapter... [the] resulting dizzying plot... comes off like a trendy Left Coast restaurant mélange -- daringly composed, exotic to contemplate," said PW.
ALSO:
-- 'Curse of the Spellmans' (Simon & Schuster, 2009, $14.00) Trade paperback reprint.
-- 'Revenge of the Spellmans (Simon & Schuster, 2010, $14.00) Trade paperback reprint.
-- 'Spellman Files' (Simon & Schuster, 2008, $14.00) Trade paperback reprint.
-- 'Spellmans Strike Again' (Simon & Schuster, 2011, $15.00) Trade paperback reprint. |
|
LOU MANFREDO - Rizzo's Fire
|  (Minotaur, $24.99)
"In Manhattan, the murder of an acclaimed playwright will make some NYPD detective a media darling. But in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Detective Joe Rizzo has the usual fare: a mugger who preys on the elderly, a serial flasher, and the loser in a fistfight, who drunkenly seeks revenge with a hunting rifle. But then Bensonhurst has its own murder, the 62nd Precinct's first in two years... Authenticity is the cornerstone of Manfredo's work (Rizzo's War, 2009), whether in his portrait of Brooklyn or his depiction of the 'murky and morally ambivalent' world of the NYPD, which Rizzo desperately wants to keep his youngest daughter from joining. Fans of gritty procedurals will love this one," said Booklist. |
|
HENNING MANKELL - The Troubled Man
|  (Knopf, $26.95).
Booklist starred: "Readers whose knowledge of Scandinavian crime fiction goes beyond Stieg Larsson know that it was Henning Mankell who jump-started what has developed into a 20-year golden age. Mankell's latest novel, the final volume in his Kurt Wallander series, represents a landmark moment in the genre. We pick up Wallander's story with the aging inspector feeling his 60-plus years and suffering from memory problems that lead to his suspension from the Ystad police force. Mankell, sweeping gracefully between reflections on international politics and meditations on the inevitable arc of human life, never lets his story become engulfed by darkness. Always a reticent man, Wallander shows an intensity of emotion here, a last gasp of felt life, that is both moving and oddly inspiring. An unforgettable series finale." And Kirkus called Mankell "that rare thing: a true original." |
|
PAULA MCLAIN - The Paris Wife
|  (Ballantine. $25.00)
"Paula McLain brings Hadley Richardson Hemingway out from the formidable shadow cast by her famous husband. Though doomed, the Hemingway marriage had its giddy high points, including a whirlwind courtship and a few fast and furious years of the expatriate lifestyle in 1920s Paris. Hadley and Ernest traveled in heady company during this gin-soaked and jazz-infused time, and readers are treated to intimate glimpses of many of the literary giants of the era, including Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. But the real star of the story is Hadley, as this time around, Ernest is firmly relegated to the background as he almost never was during their years together," said Booklist. |
|
WALTER MOSLEY - When the Thrill is Gone
|  (Riverhead, $26.95).
PW starred: "Mosley fills his third thriller featuring New York City PI Leonid McGill with insights even deeper than the mysteries McGill is trying to solve. Chrystal Tyler, a potential new client, tells McGill that she's afraid her billionaire husband is having an affair and may kill her. While McGill realizes the woman is lying, he needs the case and agrees to see what he can do to make her husband back off.... Readers will encounter the full panoply of complex Mosley characters, from deceitful women to ruthless killers, but it's the often surprising bonds of love and family that lift this raw, unsentimental novel." And Kirkus called it "A book filled with sharp individual scenes and hard-headed aphorisms."
ALSO:
-- 'Bad Boy Brawly Brown' (Little Brown, 2002, $9.00) F/F. Signed
-- 'Known To Evil' (Scorpion, 2010, $115.00) As New. Special limited numbered edition. Limited to 66 copies. Signed and numbered.
-- 'Last Days of Ptolemy Grey' (Riverhead 2010, $25.95) As New. Signed. |
|
MANUEL MUNOZ - What You See in the Dark
|  (Algonquin, $23.95).
PW starred: "Muñoz, the author of two short story collections (The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue and Zigzagger), uses the second-person voice to draw the reader into his stellar first novel. In 1959, the Director (i.e., Alfred Hitchcock) arrives in Bakersfield, Calif., to film Psycho, along with the Actress (i.e., Janet Leigh), who's struggling to get a handle on the character she will portray. Providing counterpoint to the events surrounding the making of the iconic Hollywood film, including the search for a motel to serve as the exterior of the Bates Motel, is the story of locals Dan Watson and Teresa Garza, whose doomed love affair ends in murder.... The lyrical prose and sensitive portrayal of the crime's ripple effect in the small community elevate this far beyond the typical noir." And Booklist concluded: "Munoz expertly evokes the way quiet desperation can explode into life-altering violence." |
|
JIM NISBET - Dark Companion
|
 (Overlook TP; reprint edition, $13.95).
PW starred: "Nisbet (Price of the Ticket) captures the absurdities of present-day America with a rare pungency in this noir gem, which not only succinctly illuminates a complex process like a California pharmaceutical company's rapid rise, growth, takeover, corporate squeeze, outsourcing and inevitable decline but also puts a human face on it... Crime, cosmology, politics, philosophy, physics and more enter into this cautionary tale, which climaxes with the suddenness of a cobra strike and then delivers a denouement that's both stunning and absolutely perfect. While Nisbet will never hit a bestseller list or be anointed by Oprah, his work will be praised and enjoyed long after that of more celebrated writers has been forgotten."
ALSO:
-- 'Damned Don't Die' (PM Press, 2011, $14.95, trade paperback) As New. Signed.
-- 'Lethal Injection' (Overlook Press, 2010, $12.95, trade paperback reprint) As New. Signed.
-- 'A Moment of Doubt' (PM Press, 2010, $13.95, trade paperback) As New. Signed.
-- 'Windward Passage' (Overlook Press, 2010, $25.95) As New. Signed.
|
|
|
JOYCE CAROL OATES - A Widow's Story: A Memoir
|
 (Ecco, $27.99).
Booklist starred: "Brutal violence and catastrophic loss are often the subjects of Oates' powerful novels and stories. But as she reveals in this galvanizing memoir, her creative inferno was sequestered from her joyful life with her husband, Raymond Smith. A revered editor and publisher who did not read her fiction, Smith kept their household humming during their 48-year marriage. After his shocking death from a "secondary infection" while hospitalized with pneumonia, Oates found herself in the grip of a relentless waking nightmare. She recounts this horrific "siege" of grief with her signature perception, specificity, and intensity, from epic insomnia and terrifying hallucinations.... But Oates also rallies to offer droll advice on how to be a 'good widow'.... protean and unflinching Oates has created an illuminating portrait of a marriage, a searing confrontation with death, an extraordinarily forthright chronicle of mourning, and a profound 'pilgrimage' from chaos to coherence."
|
|
|
KATHERINE HALL PAGE - The Body in the Gazebo
|
( HarperCollins, $23.99)
[Due in this week.] "Two puzzles tax Faith Fairchild in Agatha-winner Page's genial 19th mystery featuring the Aleford, Mass., caterer and amateur sleuth. Secrets, the kind that fester and can make even strong people ill, reach back to the 1920s. Faith juggles her many roles of wife, mother, businesswoman, and confidant with steadfast assurance as she looks into the missing church funds and provides relief for Ursula. Series fans will relish the descriptions of tempting culinary offerings. Recipes round out the volume," said PW.
|
|
|
JONATHAN RABB - The Second Son
|
 (FSG, $26.00) Mystorical for March 2011.
"..the narrative never flags. It proves that first-rate detectives are like good lovers and good novelists: keenly observant, intuitive and tough as nails," said the New York Times. And PW praised: "Set in 1936, Rabb's gripping conclusion to his Berlin noir trilogy featuring Chief Insp. Nikolai Hoffner finds the 62-year-old Hoffner forced into retirement because the Nazis have discovered that his late mother was Jewish. Meanwhile, Hoffner's filmmaker second son, Georg, has left his wife and son in Berlin to travel to Barcelona, where the People's Olympics, games intended to protest the spectacle of Hitler's Olympics, are scheduled to take place. But the outbreak of civil war in Spain ensures that these alternative games never happen. Fans of Alan Furst and Philip Kerr will be rewarded." |
|
|
IAN RANKIN - The Complaints
|
 (Reagan Arthur, $24.99).
Booklist starred: "In the wake of Exit Music (2008), the concluding volume in his celebrated John Rebus series, Rankin has picked a most unlikely new hero. Edinburgh cop Malcolm Fox works for 'the Complaints,' the despised internal-affairs division whose job it is to investigate other cops.... Some crime writers keep writing the same series with different characters, but Rankin deserves credit for going another way altogether. Fox is a good and quiet citizen compared to Rebus (he doesn't drink and listens to birdsong on the radio, not classic rock), but Rankin doesn't hold any of that against his new hero, proving that you can build complex, highly textured, series-worthy characters from the most unlikely of raw materials." And Library Journal also raved: "Rankin, an Edgar and Diamond Dagger winner, is back in top form here. Few authors equal his character-driven crime fiction that pulls the reader into such vividly drawn place and plot. Highly recommended."
|
|
|
|
LISA SCOTTOLINE - Save Me
|
( St. Martin's, $27.99)
PW said: "At the start of this gut-wrenching stand-alone from bestseller Scottoline, an explosion rips through the nearly empty cafeteria of Reesburgh (Pa.) Elementary School. Lunch mother Rose McKenna leads two girls to safety before racing to rescue her own daughter, Melly, but Rose soon learns that she may face both civil and criminal charges for her heroics.... a satisfying nail-biting thriller sure to please..." And Library Journal concluded: "Scottoline crafts a heartfelt emotional novel with the intensity of a thriller. This stand-alone work will mesmerize readers at the first page and hold them spellbound until the final word..." |
|
|
ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH - The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party
|
( Knopf, $24.95)
The latest No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novel is a beautiful blend of wit and wisdom, and a profoundly touching tale of the human heart. At a remote cattle post south of Gaborone two cows have been killed, and Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's No. 1 Lady Detective, is asked to investigate by a rather frightened and furtive gentleman. It is an intriguing problem with plenty of suspects-including, surprisingly, her own client. To complicate matters, Mma Ramotswe is haunted by a vision of her dear old white van, and Grace Makutsi witnesses it as well. Is it the ghost of her old friend, or has it risen from the junkyard?
ALSO:
-- 'Charming Quirks of Others' (Pantheon, 2010, $24.95) As New. Signed.
-- 'Courdoroy Mansions' (Pantheon, 2010, $24.95) As New. Signed.
-- 'Double Comfort Safari Club' (Pantheon, 2010, $24.95) As New. Signed.
-- 'Friends, Lovers, and Chocolate' (Pantheon, 2005, $14.00) F-/F. Signed.
-- 'La's Orchestra Saves The World' (Pantheon, 2009, $23.95) As New. Signed.
-- 'The Right Attitude to Rain' (Pantheon, 2006, $14.00) VF/VF. Signed.
-- 'The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party' (UK: Little, Brown, 2011, $39.00) As New. Unsigned.
|
|
|
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING - One Was A Soldier
| ( Minotaur, $24.99)
Booklist starred: "Reunited after 18 months, Episcopalian priest Clare Fergusson and police chief Russ Van Alstyne seek a future together. But Clare's extended tour as a National Guard helicopter pilot in Iraq has left her needing booze and pills to get through the night, a dependence she's unable to admit even in her counseling group of Iraq veterans that includes a teenage double amputee, a cop with anger issues, a doctor with short-term memory loss, and a bookkeeper, Tally McNabb, who's soon found shot to death. Spencer-Fleming explores a serious societal issue -- the reentry problems of soldiers home from combat -- that extends even to small-town Millers Kill, New York, while concocting an absolutely irresistible combination of crime fiction and romance. Spencer-Fleming's fans who have been waiting anxiously for her latest won't be disappointed; this series, as intelligent as it is enthralling, just keeps getting better." |
|
JAMES THOMPSON - Lucifer's Tears
| ( Putnam, $24.95)
Signed on a tipped in page. Booklist starred: "Thompson's second book, even better than the first, will surely be one of the best Nordic mysteries published in 2011. Essential reading for all fans of Arnaldur Indridason, Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, and Jo Nesbo." And PW also starred: "Thompson's stellar second thriller featuring Insp. Kari Vaara (after Snow Angels) finds Vaara working as a homicide detective in Helsinki, where he investigates the torture murder of Iisa Filippov. While Vaara suspects the victim's Russian husband, Ivan, he can't touch Ivan because the Russian is well connected within the police department. Thompson elegantly threads Finland's compelling national history with Vaara's own demons in this taut, emotionally wrought novel." |
|
JEAN THOMPSON - The Year We Left Home
| ( Simon & Schuster, $25.00).
Kirkus starred: "In Thompson's unforgettable, offbeat novel, an extended Iowa family struggles for emotional and economic stability over three decades, beginning with a modest Lutheran wedding in 1983 and ending with a bittersweet homecoming. Thompson has crafted a dazzling book that works both as an epic page-turner and a series of tightly focused, chronologically arranged stories. Thompson's ability to put these characters empathically on the page, in their special setting, over an extended period of years, with just the right dose of dark humor, rivals Richard Russo's. Touted as her commercial breakthrough, the novel is a powerful reflection on middle American life -- on the changes wrought by the passing years and the values that endure. A masterful wide-angle portrait of an Iowa family over three decades." |
|
KEITH THOMPSON - Twice a Spy
|
 (Doubleday, $25.95).
"Razor-sharp writing, laugh-out-loud humor, and a sturdy plot combine to make Thomson's sequel to Once a Spy a real treat for thriller fans. Charlie Clark has left his life as an inveterate gambler far behind as he and girlfriend Alice go on the lam in Switzerland from Alice's employer, the NSA, and a special CIA black ops unit known as Cavalry. The real star of the group is Charlie's father, Drummond Clark, who after a career as a CIA agent is sinking into the throes of early Alzheimer's, but who's able, when the occasion demands, to revive his old skills and save their skins. The nonstop action and quirky, engaging characters will leave readers eager for the next installment and the next and the next," said PW. |
|
| DARRYL WIMBERLEY - Devil's Slew: A Detective Barrett Raines Mystery |  (Minotaur, $25.99). S&S II March 2011.
"Wimberley knows his weaponry, swamp terrain and small-town prejudices better than most. If hard-boiled is what you're after, Raines qualifies as the black hero du jour," said Kirkus Reviews. And from PW: "Vivid descriptive prose and a keen ear for local dialect distinguish Wimberley's explosive fifth mystery featuring African-American special agent Barrett "Bear" Raines (after 2007's Pepperfish Keys). Bear knows every inch and most of the diverse inhabitants of his seven-county northwestern Florida jurisdiction, including Quentin Hart, an Afghanistan War vet who takes his girlfriend hostage in his trailer in a swamp area known as Devil's Slew.
ALSO:
-- 'Tinker's Damn' (MacMurray & Beck, 2000, $9.00) VF/VF. Signed.
-- 'King of Colored Town' (Toby Press, 2007, $24.95) As New. Signed.
|
DON WINSLOW - Satori
| ( Grand Central, $25.99)
"Nicholai Hel was already an accomplished assassin, a master of hoda korosu ('naked kill'), when introduced in Trevanian's 1979 Shibumi. Now Winslow (The Life and Death of Bobby Z) dons Trevanian's mantle and cloaks Hel in a tangled series of adventures and misadventures in this exciting prequel.... Winslow successfully fleshes out Hel's mixed heritage (aristocratic Russian mother, surrogate Japanese father and mentor), and eventually takes him to war-torn Vietnam, where Hel's expertise in applying Go strategy is as important to his survival as his physical skills. Winslow has crafted an impressive prelude to a highly esteemed classic thriller." And Kirkus concluded: "Perfect for Shibumi fans and anyone else who likes their espionage over the top." |
JACQUELINE WINSPEAR - A Lesson in Secrets
|  (Harper, $25.99).
As the storm clouds of World War II gather on the horizon, this pivotal chapter in the life of Maisie Dobbs foreshadows new challenges and powerful enemies facing the psychologist and investigator. Marilyn Stasio, in her New York Times crime column called the series "outstanding." Maisie Dobbs's first assignment for the British Secret Service takes her undercover to Cambridge as a professor -- and leads to the investigation of a web of activities being conducted by the emerging Nazi Party. In the summer of 1932, Maisie Dobbs's career takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment directed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and the Secret Service. When the college's controversial pacifist founder and principal, Greville Liddicote, is murdered, Maisie is directed to stand back as Detective Chief Superintendent Robert MacFarlane and Detective Chief Inspector Richard Stratton spearhead the investigation. |
|
STORE HOURS:
MONDAY through SATURDAY from 10:30 AM to 6:00 PM,
SUNDAY from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM,
and evenings until approximately 9:00 PM when an author is scheduled to appear at 7:00 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
(Minotaur, $24.99). 
