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TOMORROW SUNDAY JANUARY 6 2:00 PM
A Cookie Cozy
Betty Webb 2 PM signs The Llama of Death (Poisoned Pen $25 or $15)
Webb reports: "I'm bringing some of my collection of plush animals I use as I write the books: Alejandro the llama, Wanchu the Koala, Lucy the giant anteater, and Siegfried the Icelandic puffin. I'm also bringing some of the pictures my husband Paul took at the Renaissance Faire, plus the very picture that gave me the idea for The Llama of Death."
Here is something I wrote for The Llama of Death sent to book reviewers:
Betty Webb, a longtime volunteer at the Phoenix Zoo, knows her animal tending and zoo procedures and applies it to her latest zoo mystery. What she doesn't have first-hand experience with are the girl gangs like Demonios Femininos, risk-addicted embezzlers (the novel's heroine's father, an exile from California to Costa Rica thanks to the warrants out on him), legendary divorce settlements (as enjoyed by our heroine's oft-wed mother), or a romance with a hunky sheriff. Webb clearly enjoys writing mysteries that both play on her experience and stretch her lively imagination. The results are great fun but also sharply observed and plotted. Booklist adds, "Quirky characters and the zookeeper frame story add zest to this engaging cozy mystery that will appeal to fans of Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow mysteries." Comes third after The Anteater of Death and The Koala of Death($15 each) Read the first Gunn Zoo Mystery, The Anteater of Death, as an e-book for $.99 during January - www.poisonedpenpress.com MONDAY JANUARY 7 7:00 PM Sharan Newman signs Death Before Compline (Bagwyn/ASU Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies $9.95) The 7 stories take us into 12th century Europe and show with sympathy  and humor, the astounding variety of good intentions gone wrong and the corruption of human desires. Many of the stories feature Catherine LeVendeur, the beloved protagonist of ten of Newman's novels, and Solomon, Catherine's Jewish merchant cousin. These stories takes us into the day to day reality of medieval religious and family life, as it is lived by a variety of people: from nuns, noble people, scholars, courtiers, merchants, hermetic spinsters and children. Fans of the novels will find this collection delightful as the author explains the origins of these stories and the evolution of her protagonists in the novels. Did I mention the recipes? Sharan recommends the Templar Roast Lamb. NOTE: At our Event, Bagwyn Books celebrates its launch with the author of its first publication. Newman's collection of short stories take us into the day to day reality of medieval religious and family life, as it was lived by a variety of people: nuns, noble people, scholars, courtiers, merchants, hermetic spinsters and children. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 9 7:00 PM James Rollins & Rebecca Cantrell sign The Blood Gospel (Morrow $28) An earthquake in Masada, Israel, kills hundreds and reveals a tomb  buried in the heart of the mountain. A trio of investigators-Sergeant Jordan Stone, a military forensic expert; Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest; and Dr. Erin Granger, a brilliant but disillusioned archaeologist-are sent to explore the macabre discovery, a subterranean temple holding the crucified body of a mummified girl. But a brutal attack at the site sets the three on the run, thrusting them into a race to recover what was once preserved in the tomb's sarcophagus.. What fun. Here's the start of a series imagined as if Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian melded with Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code ---and toss in a chapter about Masada from James Michener's The Source (the only Michener I've ever read cover to cover). So we get the dreadful siege of beleaguered First Century Jews by the Romans, with twists; a whole vampire strain, plus a lost, sacred relic (a book) with a quest and clues and... Cantrell's familiarity with Germany appears in scenes in Bavaria (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a ski mecca near the Zugspitze, plus lakes). Rollins' trademark blend of science and the supernatural and whiplash plotting blend with their shared love of history and dramatic scenes. And then: Sat. Jan. 12: Coffee and Crime 10:30 AM Tues. Jan. 15: Thomas Caplan signs The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen ($16 paperback edition) Wed. Jan. 16: Sue Grafton signs Kinsey and Me ($28) Sat. Jan 19: Mystery Tea: Priscilla Royal 2 PM signs Sanctity of Hate ($25 or $15) Mon. Jan. 21: Brad Meltzer 6:30 PM signs The Fifth Assassin ($29) Tues. Jan 22: Stephen Hunter signs The Third Bullet ($27) Thurs. Jan 24: Hardboiled Crime Club Sun. Jan. 27 Ian Rankin 2 PM signs Standing in Another Man's Grave ($26) Wed. Jan 30: Erica Bauermeister signs The Lost Art of Mixing ($26) Thurs. Jan. 31: Charles Todd signs Proof of Guilt ($26) Feb. 2: Earlene Fowler 2 PM signs The Road to Cardinal Valley ($26) | 
