We've organized TWO NEW CONFERENCES:

Carolyn Haines joins us for CozyCon2 (minus horse) with her 13th Sarah Booth Delaney "Bones" Mystery Smarty Bones

And don't forget we do our very own programming from The Poisoned Pen. View past and upcoming livestreamed events by clicking here. 

Not everyone can attend our events so these webcasts provide yet another passport to you readers.

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Thank you for your continued support

Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

Is full of good things.

You can read it by clicking here

What a way to start off the year, so many wonderful books

To see our Picks, click here

Unsigned Hardcovers: click here

Signed Hardcovers, click here

Trade Paperbacks, click here

Mass Market Paperbacks, click here

Three books in the top ten Bestseller Lists:

Sue Grafton: We have sold out of Sue Grafton's Kinsey and Me (Putnam $28) but Sue is graciously signing a big new batch which will arrive late next week. This is essential reading for any fan of Kinsey Millhone and the Alphabet Series. 

Speaking of which, we continue to sell entire sets A-V ($650) or individual volumes and again, we've run out of some, so Sue is also signing batches of new volumes. And she will be here when W Is for .... publishes in the fall in case you want to order then (OK, Z Is for Zero, but W remains a secret for now)

Click here to order the whole set

Click here to select and order individual volumes.

Brad Meltzer: We still have signed firsts of The Fifth Assassin (Grand Central $29) second in the Culper Ring Trilogy.

AND we also have 4 Signed firsts now of The Inner Circle ($29), the first volume in the Culper Trilogy, also available in paperback: The Inner Circle ($9.99). No reorders on the hardcover, this is it.

"Ratchets up the drama and human interest, and Meltzer's fans will enjoy the usual sprinkling of history factoids, fast-paced writing and the double-whiplash bombshell conclusion.: --Kirkus Reviews

Plus signed copies of Heroes for My Daughter and Heroes for My Son ($20 each).

Rankin, Ian. Standing in Another Man's Grave (LittleBrown $26).

Edinburgh's Rankin retired John Rebus when he hit the mandatory retirement age for the Edinburgh Constabulary.

But, says the New York Times:

Ian Rankin

"His incorruptible but moody hero, John Rebus, had second thoughts and has since made his way back as a civilian employee in the Serious Crime Review Unit. Rebus claims to find satisfaction working these old cases, "each one ready to take him on a trip back through time." But he doesn't come to life until the mother of a teenage girl who vanished on New Year's Eve in 1999 persuades him that her daughter's disappearance set the pattern for more recent missing persons cases, each occurring in the vicinity of the same major highway and all involving young women.

Always impressive at handling plot complications, Rankin adds another twist by making Rebus redundant, forcing this ex-cop to take unorthodox action in order to muscle his way into an active investigation. As an outsider, he can ignore protocol and consort with criminals, to the point of activating hostilities between two major underworld figures. But his seditious behavior hardly endears him to the detectives working the current kidnapping, and finally goads an enemy in the complaints department into waging a vendetta to keep him from rejoining the force. ("I know a cop gone bad when I see one.")

What's really at issue here isn't Rebus's maverick style but his character. Abrasive, secretive and unable to make nice with his superiors, he's not a team player - never was, never will be. At the same time, he's uncomfortably aware that he's out of step with the new age. As a sad Scottish toast goes: "Here's tae us / Wha's like us? / Gey few - / And they're a' deid." But once in a while some dinosaur like Rebus manages to rise up to show us how to get the job done."

Order Up: If we sell out, we can't ship more copies to Rankin who lives in Scotland!

Todd, Charles. Proof of Guilt (Morrow $26).

NOTE: Our program this year is with Carolyn Todd of this mother-and-son writing team. She earlier wrote other fiction so we'll explore her long and interesting writing history along with this splendid new Inspector Rutledge novel. 

It's 1920. Inspector Ian Rutledge continues to move on in time from the horrors of trench warfare and his own deeds in World War I, even though the young Scot he had shot for refusal to obey a command haunts him still (whether as the never-quiet voice of his conscience, or as some kind of haint you have to decide). 

With his nemesis sidelined at the Yard and a new acting Superintendent from Yorkshire holding the reins, Rutledge is ordered to investigate the death of an unidentified body run down by a motorcar. Was the man dumped in a respectable, quiet London street, and if so, why? 

One resident, himself mysterious, isn't happy with Rutledge's inquiry. In time a small clue leads our sleuth to a wine importing firm built by two families renowned for a world-class Madeira. Lewis French, the current head of the English half of the enterprise, is missing. Where is Matthew Traynor, French's cousin and partner, who is supposedly en route to England from the firm's HQ in Portugal? As in all Rutledge's cases, there are no real winners or losers, and justice as such is hard won. 

Wine has been the lifeblood of ties between England and Portugal for centuries, a major import generally through Bristol. We'll serve a little port at the event. Rob and I are cruising up Portugal's Douro River into the heart of the port wine country in May.

Fowler, Earlene. The Road to Cardinal Valley (Berkley $26) 

Join us for some sweets and prizes

Here is another excellent gift choice for Valentine's Day!

The Saddlemaker's Wife ($7.99) was a very personal and challenging book for Fowler, author of the award-winning Benni Harper mysteries, to write. Here is the rest (for now anyway) of Ruby McGavin's story. Ruby never thought she'd return to Cardinal, but she's hoping the place and people who gave her so much can give her brother Nash-who's been drowning in drink in Nashville-the fresh start he so desperately needs. 

NOTE: Jance (and our staff member John) will be appearing at several West Valley locations February 6-8. Click here for the schedule in case this is more convenient for you to attend

Police academy-trained former reporter Ali Reynolds is contacted to investigate the grisly murder of a gold-digging divorcee on behalf of a woman accused of the crime. Lynn Martinson is dating the dead woman's ex-husband, and she and her boyfriend Chip Ralston have been charged. Ali is simultaneously drawn to the case of A.J. Sanders, a frightened teen with secrets of his own. He's the first to find the body in the Camp Verde desert when he goes to retrieve a mysterious buried box hidden by his absent father-a box that turns out to be filled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in poker chips. 

When the body of an ex-con is discovered near the first crime scene, Ali struggles to determine if A.J. and Lynn's cases are related, while her friends in the police department grow increasingly irritated by her involvement with the cases...

Sat. Feb. 2: Earlene Fowler 2 PM

Tues. Feb. 5: JA Jance

Sat. Feb. 9: Coffee & Crime Discussion Club 10:30 AM

Sun.: Feb. 10: Fred Ramsay Mystery Tea 2 PM

Thurs. Feb. 13: Patricia Bracewell, Dina Nayeri

Sat. Feb. 16: Ed Kovacs 2 PM

Mon. Feb. 18: Maureen Jennings

Wed. Feb. 20: Deborah Crombie

Mon. Feb. 25: John Joseph Adams/Diana Gabaldon

Tues. Feb. 26: Dana Stabenow Launch Party 

Wed. Feb. 27: Sara J Henry

Thurs. February 28^th: Hardboiled Crime Club

And March's schedule so far:

Mon. March 4: Keith McCafferty

Annual Brandeis Book & Author Lunch

Monday March 4 at The Phoenician, 6000 E. Camelback Road

$115 per person 

Signings begin at 9:30 AM, Program at 11 AM

Melanie Benjamin, Chris Bohjalian, Allison Leotta, JR Martinez, Alan Stewart, Adriana Trigiani

Reservations: Paula.Eckstein@gmail.com

CozyCon2 Saturday May 4 at The Phoenix Public Library

Program: 10 AM - 4 PM

$40 per person includes lunch

Confirmed so far: Carolyn Haines, Beth Kendrick, Jenn McKinlay, Frederick Ramsay. Surprises to come!

Reservations: sales@poisonedpen.com or phone 480 947 2974

Poisoned Pen Conference Saturday July 2 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa (room rate special to be announced)

Program 9 AM-4:30 PM

$50 includes lunch

Confirmed so far: Aavery Ames, new author Lauren Beukas, Kate Carlisle (first hardcover), Jane Cleland, Steve Hamilton, Michael Kahn, Jenn McKinlay, Sheldon Siegel. More to come including an exciting luncheon speaker from New York on publishing

This event sells out every year so....

Reservations: sales@poisonedpen.com or phone 480 947 2974