ALERT: Parada del Sol, the annual parade showcasing Scottsdale, turns 60 today. The route runs down Scottsdale Road from Oak to Indian School. Congratulations to the sponsors and participants, and all who are celebrating with them. AND if you are coming to the Pen, avoid Scottsdale Road and Indian School from the 101 West to the intersection with Scottsdale Road. Instead exit the 101 or Hayden at Chaparral and take the Goldwater bypass South to the store. If coming from the West turn south on 68th Street and then left on Indian School and take the first right by the Valley Ho, and then left on First to our door.

Not everyone can attend our events so these webcasts provide yet another passport to you readers. Recent Livestreams include Rollins/Cantrell, Sue Grafton, Brad Meltzer, Ian Rankin, and Earlene Fowler

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Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

Delicious! So many treats.

You can read it by clicking here

Awards updates

Take a break from crime

books

British, Global Crime

New Books

Trade and Mass Market Paperbacks

History/Mystery

To celebrate February 14 we selected Fourteen for February: Trade Paperback Picks

Plus Mass Markets and Staff Picks

To see our Picks, please click here

To see our January and  Picks, please click here,

then check out each club for what it offers and the new Picks

To join a book club, email sales@poisonedpen.com

Unsigned Hardcovers: click here

Signed Hardcovers, click here

Trade Paperbacks, click here

Mass Market Paperbacks, click here

1:00 PM Phryne Fisher TV Episode 1

Come and watch the first episode in Season One of Miss Phryne Fisher based on the knockout novels by Kerry Greenwood. Set in 1920s Melbourne, and taken from Phryne's debut in Cocaine Blues ($15).

Stay on for Lisa Gardner, a modern analog for Phryne.

2:00 PM Lisa Gardner signs Touch and Go (Dutton $27)  

Bestseller Gardner's women are not unlike Miss Fisher, if modern and residing in New England. 

Libby Denbe can tell you what fear tastes like. Former cop Tessa Leoni, now working private security, is tough, smart, mouthy-and misses the beat. She arrives at the crime scene in the Denbes' home and finds scuff marks on the floor and Taser confetti in the foyer. The Denbes, father, mother, daughter, appear to have been abducted, leaving only a pile of their most personal possessions behind. No witnesses, no ransom demands, no motive. DD Warren is a cop, and this mess is mostly hers. It's some ride as she works to clean it up-and to surprise places. Gardner is the queen of suburban suspense, the distaff side of Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 10 Mystery Tea 2:00 PM

From yourwestvalley.com, a nice writeup for Dr. Ramsay, author, minister, and talented guy who lives in Surprise: To read, click here

Holy Smoke is 3rd in the Jerusalem Mysteries after Judas The Gospel of Betrayal and The Eighth Veil ($15 each). All three novels have received Starred Reviews and open your eyes to history you may know only through the New Testament.

In the novel, the year is 29 C.E. and Jerusalem chafes under the Roman Empire's continued presence and oppressive rule. 

Yet ordinary life goes on.

The a badly scorched body is found behind the veil of The Holy of Holies - the Temple's inner sanctum, the most sacred space on earth for the Jews. No one except the High Priest may enter this place and he only once a year on the Day of Atonement. This is no casual violation and the authorities are in an uproar. Gamaliel, the Rabban of the Sanhedrin, the ranking rabbi in all of Judea, finds himself drawn into solving this delicate mystery while dark agents with unholy interests, plot to seize control of much of the trade in certain highly profitable imports from the east and west. (Note: this is in fact a totally modern situation!)

Loukas, the physician, plays "Watson" to Gamaliel's "Sherlock" as the tangled web of intrigue and murder is slowly unraveled, but not before more bodies, both literal and figurative pop up. All the while Yeshua, the radical rabbi from the Galilee, continues to annoy the High Priest and smoke, Holy Smoke, from the sacrifices rise from the Temple. 

Also in Trade Paper: Holy Smoke A Jerusalem Mystery ($15)

Although these two novels tell stories set a millennium apart they are in fact similar: tales of two women facing change, challenge, disaster, with courage. Will either make a difference to their culture?

Bracewell, Patricia. Shadow on the Crown (Viking $28).

Starts a trilogy about a Norman princess who becomes a queen. In 1002, 15-year-oldEmma of Normandy crosses the Channel to wed the much older King Athelred of England, whom she meets for the first time at the church door. Thrust into an unfamiliar and treacherous court, with a husband who mistrusts her, stepsons who resent her and a bewitching rival who covets her crown, Emma must defend herself against her enemies and secure her status as queen by bearing a son. Determined to outmaneuver her adversaries, Emma forges alliances with influential men at court and wins the affection of the English people. But her growing love for a man who is not her husband and the imminent threat of a Viking invasion jeopardize both her crown and her life. 

Based on real events recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. And forbidden love is always enthralling, no?

Nayeri, Dina. A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea (Riverhead $28).

The publisher who brought you The Kite Runner, a Modern Firsts Club Pick back in the day (new book from Hosseini in May and no, we don't know if we can get signed copies yet), gives it another shot.

PW weighs in: "This ambitious novel set in northern Iran in the decade after the 1979 revolution contains not a teaspoon but a ton of history, imagination, and longing. Beginning with the 1981 disappearance of 11-year-old Saba Hafezi's twin sister, Mahtab, and their mother, Khanom, Nayeri interweaves Saba's family trauma as seen through the eyes of the women of her seaside village, along with fantasies about Mahtab's teenage fascination with everything American, shared by her friends Reza and Ponneh. Saba loves Reza, but allows herself to be married off to old Abbas Hossein Abbas, expecting to eventually gain freedom by becoming a rich widow. The characters' dreams are shattered, however....

"Nayeri's debut is, "The sort of embracing and embraceable culturally far-reaching fiction Riverhead does best."-LJ.  Kirkus adds, "It takes a village full of sometimes odd, sometimes ordinary people to afford Saba the wherewithal to realize her dreams, which take her far, far from there. Lyrical, humane and hopeful; a welcome view of the complexities of small-town life, in this case in a place that inspires fear instead of sympathy."

Kovacs, Ed. Good Junk (St Martins $26).

A novel I recommend gets this review in the NY Times:

"Ed Kovacs owes a lot to Hurricane Katrina. Picking up from his novel Storm Damage, a 2011 First Mystery Club Pick, Good Junk finds the fractured city of New Orleans struggling to put itself back together a year after the storm....the scenes of New Orleans are rich and real. Kovacs's hopeless, elegiac vision of the city is touching, and his quick studies of hidden landmarks like the outré bar in the French Quarter that calls itself Pravda, and Pampy's, a purveyor of soul food to politicians, are written with true affection and terrific humor." 

Former cop Cliff St James gets himself assigned to a wicked case as a private investigator and what with martial arts and murders, the plot rocks along. 

The characters, the arc of St. James' story outside and inside the NOPD, and the verve of the writing make this variant on the private eye novel a real mid-winter lift.

THE REST OF OUR FEBRUARY EVENTS

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16 New Orleans Noir 2:00 PM

Ed Kovacs signs Good Junk (St Martins $26) NOPD's Cliff St James

MONDAY FEBRUARY 18 7:00 PM

Maureen Jennings signs Beware This Boy (McClelland $23) Shropshire 1940 plus possible Bomb Girls preview

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20 7:00 PM

Deborah Crombie signs The Sound of Broken Glass (Morrow $26) Kincaid/James

MONDAY FEBRUARY 25 7:00 PM

John Joseph Adams/Diana Gabaldon sign The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Stories (Forge $26). Also in trade paper: see Event Books

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 26 Book Launch Party 7:00 PM

Dana Stabenow Launch Party

Dana signs Bad Blood (St Martins $26) Kate Shugak #20 and a 20^th Anniversary Mug with coffee beans ($24.95)

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 27 7:00 PM

Sara J Henry signs A Cold and Lonely Place (Crown $24) Troy Chance

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 28 7:00 PM

The Hardboiled Crime Club reads Karin Fossum's Broken ($14)

Mon. March 4: Keith McCafferty

To commemorate the new and 20th Kate Shugak novel, grab a Bad Blood mug and Tsunami coffee beans ($24.95), Chopper Jim's favorite, to enjoy while you read Bad Blood  

Join us for the Launch Party on Tuesday February 26th at The Pen.

There are maybe 5 openings for the Bad Blood lunch at The Artichoke Cafe at Scottsdale Community College at noon that same day. $50 gets you a delicious three-course lunch (or skip two and go for the desserts -- remember the chocolate theme in this Enews?).

Call 480 947 2974 to reserve.

We are expecting a landslide of books in from London on Monday. Meanwhile...

Barry, Dave. Insane City Signed (Putnam $28)

Seth Weinstein knew Tina was way out of his league in pretty much any way you could imagine, which is why it continued to astonish him that he was on the plane now for their destination wedding in Florida. The Groom Posse had already sprung an airport prank on him, and he'd survived it, and if that was the worst of it, everything should be okay. Smooth sailing from now on. Seth has absolutely no idea what he's about to get into. In the next several hours, he and his friends will become embroiled with rioters, Russian gangsters, angry strippers, a pimp as big as the Death Star, a very desperate Haitian refugee on the run with her two children from some very bad men, and an eleven-foot albino Burmese python named Blossom. And there're still two days to go before the wedding. This is the Putlizer winner's first solo novel in about a decade.

Blair, Peggy. The Beggar's Opera (Pintail $16).

The Indie Next Pick: "The Beggar's Opera introduces readers to a once beautiful but now crumbling Havana and a cast of wonderful characters, including the sensitive and cunning Inspector Ricardo Ramirez and medical investigator Hector Apiro. The stark picture of life in modern day Cuba adds atmosphere and interest to the complex criminal investigation of the mystery - the rape and death of an eight-year-old boy. This is a totally captivating debut to a mystery series with an unforgettable setting and compelling characters." Our February Fresh Fiction Pick. Canadian Blair was a runner-up in the UK'a Debut Dagger contest. An interesting medical plot underlines the trials faces by Ramirez, a compelling new voice.

Everett, Percival. Percival Everett by Virgil Russell ($15).

A story inside a story inside a story. A man visits his aging father in a nursing home, where his father writes the novel he imagines his son would write. Or is it the novel that the son imagines his father would imagine, if he were to imagine the kind of novel the son would write?

Greenwood, Kerry. Out of the Black Land (Poisoned Pen $25). 

NOTE: we have only 25 first prints of this hardcover; thanks to its multiple Starred Reviews it sold out in a flash. Please order ASAP.  And yes, this is the same Kerry Greenwood who writes the Phryne Fisher and Corinna Chapman mysteries. We will publish two more historical novels by her this year. The next looks at Medea.

Three young people living in the time of Egypt's 18th Dynasty become a force to be reckoned with. Amenhotep III has ruled Egypt wisely and well, but his deformed and impotent son Akhnaten is about to plunge the country into the depths of misery. Before his father's death, Akhnaten inexplicably chooses the bright young scholar Ptah-hotep to be his Great Royal Scribe. Despite his inexperience, Ptah-hotep quickly finds his feet and does well even though he's been forced to leave behind his lover Kheperren, who soon finds a place as scribe to the powerful Gen. Horemheb. Akhnaten has chosen the beautiful, self-indulgent Nefertiti as his bride. Her younger sister, Princess Mutnodjme, is a bright, curious child who fights to be educated and becomes a priestess of Isis. Despite her best efforts, Nefertiti is unable to conceive Akhnaten's child. And it goes from there...

 "From the often wildly differing conclusions of professional Egyptologists, Greenwood, best known for her [Phryne Fisher] mysteries , has fashioned a fascinating, plausible and erotic tale"-Kirkus Starred Review. Note: one of the "Egyptologists" referenced by Greenwood is a "Barbara Metz" who you Amelia Peabody fans know is Barbara Mertz, aka Elizabeth Peters. I can't correct this in the hardcover or first paperback print run, but we will in future paperbacks and in the digital book. 

Also in trade paper: Out of the Black Land ($15)

Koch, Herman. The Dinner (Hogarth $24). I can see this becoming the next Gone Girl -- and its recommended by Gillian Flynn (and me)

Words nearly fail me here.... It's a summer evening in Amsterdam. Paul and Claire are meeting Serge and Babette for dinner in a trendy restaurant. It's all so ordinary although there are undertones of resentment from Paul at how easily Serge can command an instant reservation, like that. Paul and Claire stop at a café for a drink, not wanting to arrive first at the restaurant. But inevitably we do so we learn the first surprising thing. And then as dinner progresses, the two couples reveal more and more until-it's hard to believe. I go with this: "The reader does not rise from his table happy and replete so much as stands up suddenly, pale and reeling. Read The Dinner-and taste the shock."-The Economist (UK).  Translated from the Dutch. Not a crime novel in a conventional sense but...

O'Donnell, Lisa. Death of Bees Signed (Harper $26). A dozen left

"Marnie and Nellie have a problem: they buried their parents in the back garden after finding them dead. Ages 15 and 12, they are desperate to avoid being placed in foster care before Marnie turns 16, when she can live on her own under British law. Lennie, their next-door neighbor in the Glasgow, Scotland, housing estate, has noticed the girls are on their own. Old, lonely, and a great cook, Lennie takes them in and has his own reasons for not wanting to report them to the authorities. The three get along quite well until the girls' grandfather shows up. There are other complications as well, such as the issue of the money the girls' drug-dealing father has hidden, and Lennie's dog, who loves to dig in his neighbors' yard. Quirky characters with distinct voices enliven this sometimes grim and often funny coming-of-age story in the vein of Karen Russell's best seller Swamplandia!

Mason, Jamie. Three Graves Full Signed (Free Press $25).

More than a year ago, mild-mannered Jason Getty killed a man he wished he'd never met. Then he planted the problem a little too close to home. But just as he's learning to live with the undeniable reality of what he's done, police unearth two bodies on his property-neither of which is the one Jason buried. Jason races to stay ahead of the consequences of his crime, and while chaos reigns on his lawn, his sanity unravels, snagged on the agendas of a colorful cast of strangers. The Indie Next Pick says it give us, "a fresh, entertaining twist on the murder mystery genre. A coward can snap if pushed too far, which is why Jason Getty has a body buried in his backyard. This is stressing him out so much that he has to hire a landscaping crew to deal with his lawn - and they are the ones who find a different body in his flowerbed, not the one he buried. The police investigation turns up yet a third body, and from there on this tightly plotted, suspense-filled tale twists and turns like the country roads of its setting. A great read!" Fast and furious, and what a situation. Our January Surprise Me Club Pick.

Russell, Karen. Vampires in the Lemon Grove Signed (Knopf $25). A collection of stories by the author of bestseller Swamplandia ($15), a 2011 Modern First Club Pick. Russell is highly touted by Carl Hiaasen.

FOR WRITERS (AND READERS)

Corbett, David. The Art of Character: Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV ($17). 

Former private investigator and New York Times Notable author David Corbett offers a unique and indispensable toolkit for creating characters that come vividly to life on the page and linger in memory. Corbett says he provides an inventive, inspiring, and vastly entertaining blueprint to all the elements of characterization-from initial inspiration to realization-with special insights into the power of secrets and contradictions, the embodiment of roles, managing the "tyranny of motive," and mastering crucial techniques required for memorable dialogue and unforgettable scenes.

Maran, Meredith. Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors (Plume $16).

Allende, Baldacci, Egan, Grafton, Gruen, Junger, Maupin, McMillan, Moody, Mosley, Orleans, Patchett, Smiley and more contribute to "how and why they write what they do." Fascinating.

Smiley, Jane. Writers on Writing Volume II ($16). From 2004, a collection of essays from the NY Times.

Gail Lynn Frazer, known to you readers as Margaret Frazer, author of many wonderful medieval mysteries, who lost a 20-year battle with breast cancer last week.

The pen name Margaret Frazer was originally shared by Gail Frazer and Mary Monica Pulver Kuhfeld in their collaboration on The Novice's Tale, the first of the Sister Frevisse books featuring the Benedictine nun Dame Frevisse. Their collaboration came to an end with The Murderer's Tale, the sixth book in the series. 

Starting with the Edgar Award-nominated The Prioress' Tale, the Margaret Frazer pen name was used exclusively by Gail Frazer. Frazer also wrote the Player Joliffe mysteries, starring the medieval actor Joliffe.