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Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

Delicious! So many treats. 

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Our book clubs are for buyers, not for discussion groups. The idea is to give members of each club something new and wonderful to reach each month.

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

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The Canadian author of many crime novels and of two hit TV series, Murdoch based on her series for a Victorian detective, and Bomb Girls, WWII, flies in today to discuss her latest work.

The author and her husband bring along a docudrama of scenes behind Bomb Girls for us to watch. To read about the series, please click here

 What is the new book?

Travel back to 1940 Shropshire. The Tyler series, set in Second World War England, shows all of Jennings's talent for historical mystery... With great historical detail, solid characters and a really good plot, this series is another winner for Jennings. Fans of the Foyle's War TV series should rejoice." -Toronto Globe and Mail.

"The period setting is amazingly vivid and terribly real. Writing with all senses on high alert, Jennings creates a flawless approximation of a typical day in the life of all the girls who worked on weapons assembly lines, their skin yellow and their hair orange from the cordite. And when she takes the story underground during an air raid, those bombs she starts dropping come so close that readers might want to duck their heads and take cover." -New York Times Book Review. "The atmosphere and dialogue puts you at the heart of the story. The haunting melodies of Vera Lynn seem to settle in with the words. Readers are drawn into as fine a piece of historical mystery writing as they're likely to come across. Read and relish this extraordinary piece of storytelling."-Hamilton Spectator.

Crombie, Deborah. The Sound of Broken Glass (Morrow $26).

No surprise this is an Indie Next Pick as her books are favorites at The Pen. 

On a blisteringly hot August afternoon in Crystal Palace, once home to the tragically destroyed Great Exhibition, a solitary 13-year-old boy meets his next-door neighbor, a recently widowed young teacher hoping to make a new start in the tight-knit South London community. Drawn together by loneliness, the unlikely pair forms a deep connection that ends in a shattering act of betrayal. 

Jump to the present. On a cold January morning in London, Detective Inspector Gemma James is back on the job now that her husband, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, is at home to care for their 3-year-old foster daughter. Assigned to lead a Murder Investigation Team in South London, she's assisted by her trusted colleague, newly promoted Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot. Their first case: a crime scene at a seedy hotel in Crystal Palace. The victim: a well-respected barrister, found naked, trussed, and apparently strangled. Is it an unsavory accident or murder? In either case, he was not alone, and Gemma's team must find his companion-a search that takes them into unexpected corners and forces them to contemplate unsettling truths about the weaknesses and passions that lead to murder... 

Note: this book requires you to read the three-time MacavityAward winner, Edgar Award nominee, and a New York Times Notable author's 2011 book, Necessary as Blood ($14), first. 

Editor Adams and author Gabaldon both sign a nifty new anthology.

The Mad Scientists Guide to World Domination: Stories (Forge $26). 

Original short fiction for the Modern Evil Genius. 

Everybody loves villains. They're bad; they always stir the pot; they're much more fun than the good guys, even if we want to see the good guys win. Their fiendish schemes, maniacal laughter, and limitless ambition are legendary, but what lies behind those crazy eyes and wicked grins? How-and why-do they commit these nefarious deeds? And why are they so set on taking over the world? 

The bestselling authors-include Diana Gabaldon, Daniel Wilson, Austin Grossman, Naomi Novik, and Seanan McGuire...22 in all indulging in the most megalomaniacal mayhem imaginable. 

Also in Trade Paper: The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination ($15).

To mark the publication of the 20^th Kate Shugak, Dana is giving away three fantastic prizes she's brought down from-and they are from-Alaska. As always, prizes go to those have purchased the new book and have thus a numbered ticket.

about Alaska, truly gorgeous in content and prose. I reread several descriptive paragraphs to savor them (again).

Plus, as I wrote to her, what you've got is the kind of thing that honor killings and blood feuds are made of, so in fact while you are acknowledging Shakespeare, the story is completely contemporary but in a surprise context....  

Here's a comment from The Huffington Post --

"Dana Stabenow does it all: ample history, rich socio-political background, vivid atmosphere, complex characters, hot sex, twisted plot, and solid conclusion. What more could anyone want from a midwinter escape?"  

Grab a special commemorative mug ($24.95 complete with a bag of ground special Tsunami Blend coffee, Chopper Jim's favorite) for this landmark book.

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)

SATURDAY MARCH 2 2:00 PM

Kent Harrington signs The Rat Machine (Market Street Books $25 trade paper)

MONDAY MARCH 4 7:00 PM

Keith McCafferty signs The Gray Ghost Murders(Viking $27) Montana PI Sean Stranahan, plus fabulous fishing lures and stories

TUESDAY MARCH 5 7:00 PM

Clive Cussler and Justin Scott sign The Striker(Putnam $29) Isaac Bell

WEDNESDAY MARCH 6 7:00 PM

Thomas Perry signs The Boyfriend (Grove $25) Wicked standalone thriller

THURSDAY MARCH 7 7:00 PM

Vernona Gomez signs Lefty An American Odyssey

SATURDAY MARCH 9 10:30 AM

Coffee and Crime discusses ML Longworth's debut, Death at the Chateau Bremont ($15). The author appears via Skype from France!

MONDAY MARCH 11 7:00 PM

Naomi Hirahara signs Strawberry Yellow (Prospect $15) Mas Arias

TUESDAY MARCH 12 7:00 PM

Randy Wayne White signs Night Moves (Putnam $27) Doc Ford

WEDNESDAY MARCH 13

 Cara Black signs Murder Below Montparnasse (Soho $26) Aimee LeDuc

 Hilary Davidson signs Evil in All Its Disguises (Forge $26). Lily Moore

THURSDAY MARCH 14 7:00 PM

CJ Box signs Breaking Point (Putnam $27) Joe Pickett

SUNDAY MARCH 17 2:00 PM St Patrick's Day Party

Erin Hart (by Skye) signed The Book of Killowen (Scribner $26) Nora Gavin

Rhys Bowen signs The Family Way Signed (St Martins $25) Molly Murphy

MONDAY MARCH 18 7:00 PM

John Billheimer signs Field of Schemes (Five Star $26) Baseball mystery

THURSDAY MARCH 21 7:00 PM

 Owen Laukkanen signs Criminal Enterprise (Putnam $27)

SATURDAY MARCH 23 12:00 PM

The Nancy Drew Group reads Nancy Drews #37 and #38

MONDAY MARCH 25 7:00 PM Launch Party

Jacqueline Winspear signs Leaving Everything Most Loved (Harper $27) Maisie Dobbs

TUESDAY MARCH 26 7:00 PM Launch Party

William Kent Krueger signs Ordinary Grace (Atria $25) Standalone

THURSDAY MARCH 28 7:00 PM

Hardboiled Crime Club reads Stuart MacBride's Birthdays for the Dead ($15)

2013 AGATHA AWARD NOMINEES

Note: visit http://www.malicedomestic.org/ to see this year's group of honored authors and registration information for the Malice Domestic Convention

Best Novel:

The Diva Digs Up the Dirt, by Krista Davis ($7.99)

A Fatal Winter, by G.M. Malliet ($25)

The Buzzard Table, by Margaret Maron ($28 Signed)

The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny ($26 reprints)

The Other Woman, by Hank Phillippi Ryan ($25)

Best First Novel:

Lowcountry Boil, by Susan M. Boyer ($15)

Iced Chiffon, by Duffy Brown ($7.99)

A Scrapbook of Secrets, by Mollie Cox Bryan ($7.99)

A Killer Read, by Erika Chase ($7.99)

Faithful Unto Death, by Stephanie Jaye Evans ($15)

Best Non-fiction:

Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke ($30)

Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950, edited by Joseph Goodrich

More Forensics and Fiction: Crime Writers Morbidly Curious Questions Expertly Answered, by D.P. Lyle

Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies, by Ben Macintyre ($26)

The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie, edited by Mathew Prichard ($30)

Best Children's/Young Adult Novel:

Seconds Away, by Harlan Coben ($19)

The Edge of Nowhere, by Elizabeth George ($19)

Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead ($16)

The Code Busters Club, Case #2: The Haunted Lighthouse, by Penny Warner

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein ($17)

Best Historical Novel:

Rhys Bowen, The Twelve Clues of Christmas ($25)
 Rebecca Cantrell, A City of Broken Glass ($26)
 Dennis Lehane, Live by Night ($28)
 Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder ($25)
 Jacqueline Winspear, Elegy for Eddie ($1; $25 Signed)

Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Aaron Elkins

Amelia Award Recipient

Carolyn  G Hart

2013 BRUCE ALEXANDER AWARD (Best Historical)

Rhys Bowen, The Twelve Clues of Christmas ($25)
 Rebecca Cantrell, A City of Broken Glass ($26)
 Dennis Lehane, Live by Night ($28)
 Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder ($25)
 Jacqueline Winspear, Elegy for Eddie ($15; $25 Signed)

2013 DILYS AWARD NOMINEES

From Independent Mystery Booksellers

Colin Cotterill, Granddad, There's a Head on the Beach ($25)

Tana French, Broken Harbor ($28)

Susan Elia MacNeal, Mr. Churchill's Secretary ($15)

Chris Pavone, The Expats ($15)

Peter Robinson, Before the Poison ($15)

Bauer, Belinda. Rubbernecker Signed (Bantam $35).

Now here is a truly terrifying, unusual, original mystery with a particularly horrifying murder. Patrick has Asperger's: being inside his head where he narrates is both chilling and heart-rending. So is the life of his mother after his father is killed in a never-solved hit-and-run. Sam is in a deep coma after sliding on ice in the Welsh mountains and crashing his car. What goes on inside Patrick's head? What goes inside the coma ward? If you want something different, and mesmerizing, don't miss this latest from Gold Dagger winner Bauer-for Blacklands ($14). Bauer and SJ Bolton are two of the most interesting new crop of British crime writers, doing unexpected things with closed communities. Generally villages, but here expanded in a surprising way.

Note: the title, which I don't like, refers to those bystanders who gawk at train wrecks and other terrible, or curious, events

Black, Cara. Murder at the Lanterne Rouge ($15).  

LJ writes, "Going strong since 1999, Black's Gallic series has always taken place in a particular district of Paris. But this time the story takes place at the Lanterne Rouge, a restaurant where Aimée meets friend and business partner René and his new Chinese beloved, Meizi, dining with her stern parents. Alas, Meizi is called away by a curious phone call and disappears; when Aimée and René go looking, they find a freshly murdered young man whose wallet contains Meizi's picture. Soon Aimée is scouring Chinatown, discovering a community of cruelly exploited illegal immigrants while also talking to the victim's Armenian great-aunt, who fought in the Resistance. A missing file, a clubby group of friends at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, a secret about a certain kind of glass, dating from medieval times and set to rock the contemporary world"-all this, and more. Black signs the sequel here on March 13.

Block, Lawrence. Hit Me Signed (Mulholland $27)

The NY Times reviews:

Despite claiming he's retired, Lawrence Block can't seem to resist taking a few swigs from the poisoned cup. HIT ME brings back his most fatally appealing protagonist, the professional hit man known as Keller, last sighted in New Orleans with the newly acquired baggage of a wife, a baby and a construction business. Keller's passion for rare stamps leads him to take on a special assignment from his old booking agent, Dot, who has resurfaced in Sedona, Ariz. And soon enough, this imperfectly socialized killer is back in the game, taking contracts in cities like Dallas and New York, where a man can always find a good stamp auction. Aside from their ingenious methodology, what makes these amuse-bouches so delectable are the moral dilemmas Block throws up to deflect his philosophical anti­hero from a given task. Any assassin might hesitate to murder a child, but only Keller would ponder the ethics of killing someone whose premature death would rob a prostitute of payment for her professional services.

Hobbs, Roger. Ghostman Signed (Knopf $27).

The Times also reviews this First Mystery Club Pick 

"The crucial clue in this smoking-fast new thriller is turned up by a "wheelman" - or car expert - who takes a BlackBerry photo of some muddy car tracks and using only his memory and an Internet connection is able to identify the tires that made those tread marks with 90 percent certainty in 10 minutes. "Wheelmen think differently from normal people," says the novel's narrator, known as Jack, who's no slouch himself when it comes to details. "They see the little things."

  The same might well be said of Roger Hobbs, the author of this debut crime novel. Mr. Hobbs - who graduated in 2011 from Reed College - seizes our attention and holds it tight, not so much through his plotting or his characters but through his sheer, masterly use of details, and the authoritative, hard-boiled voice he has fashioned for Jack. Jack is a career criminal, or more specifically, a "ghostman," who's helped maybe a hundred bank robbers escape over the years. He's an expert in "the business of disappearing": adept at the arts of disguise and using fake identification - passports, driver's licenses, birth certificates. He's also a descendant of sorts of Lee Child's Jack Reacher - he too is a ghost who has no address, no phone number and likes to travel light - and Richard Stark's (Donald E. Westlake's) coldblooded antihero Parker, an efficient, enigmatic professional thief with little inner life and even less family back story.... What powers the narrative over such bumps is Mr. Hobbs's ability to immerse us in Jack's unsavory world and to make the nefarious transactions he and his cohort engage in seem so palpably real. This is the debut of a gifted crime writer who will only get better with his next endeavors." --Michiko Kakutani

Henry, Sara J. A Cold and Lonely Place (Crown $24).

PP Staffer Lea Love writes, "The sophomore effort from Sara is just as well done as her award winning first novel

Learning to Swim ($15). Once again, the secrets and undercurrents in a small town are brought to light in a very involving way...loved it." Freelance writer Troy Chance is snapping photos of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace when the ice-cutting machine falls silent. Encased in the ice is the shadowy outline of a body-a man she knows. One of her roommates falls under suspicion, and the media descends. Troy's assigned to write an in-depth feature on the dead man, who, it turns out, was the privileged son of a wealthy Connecticut family who had been living blue-collar life in this Adirondack village.  The deeper Troy digs into his life and mysterious death, the murkier things become, the more she begins to like the dead man, and, after the victim's sister comes to town and a string of disturbing incidents unfolds, attempts to block Troy's research multiply. "Featuring a strong cast of female characters and a measured pace, this sophomore novel also perfectly conjures the lure of living in a small and beautiful mountain town during a bitterly cold winter. Featuring an independent and immensely likable lead, riffing on the complicated nature of friendship, and boasting a solidly plotted mystery, this may well appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn." -

 McCafferty, Keith. The Royal Wulff Murders ($15).

I cared little about fishing and lures until the late William G. Tapply won my heart. Randy Wayne White already had. Imagine my joy to read this cross of a PI Novel with The River Runs Through It, visit Montana (which I've missed since Peter Bowen ceased writing his fabulous novels), and meet Sean Stranahan and his gang. "McCafferty blends plenty of fly-fishing lore (the Royal Wulff is a lure) with a host of intriguing characters, including fishing guide Rainbow Sam, Cottonwood Inn owner Doris Sizemore, and Blackfeet tracker Harold Little Feather. Only the sharp-eyed observation of the medical examiner suggests the body was a murder victim rather than an accidental drowning. The eventual identification of the victim helps link Stranahan's task to that of the sheriff. 

"The vivid Montana setting is a plus," agrees PW. So think Craig Johnson also. LJ adds, "McCafferty's superb outdoor writing (not surprising for an editor at Field & Stream magazine) feels like an academic mystery thanks to a complex research topic that sometimes dilutes the mystery plot. Recommend this debut to lovers of environmentally themed mysteries by such authors as C.J. Box." Also to those who miss Parker's Spenser private eye novels. McCafferty signs the sequel here March 4.

Miller, Derek B. Norwegian by Night Signed (Faber $32).

82 years old, and recently widowed, Sheldon Horowitz has grudgingly moved to Oslo, with his grand-daughter and her Norwegian husband. An ex-Marine, he talks often to the ghosts of his past: the friends he lost in the Pacific and the son who followed him into the US Army, and to his death in Vietnam. When Sheldon witnesses the murder of a woman in his apartment complex, he rescues her six-year-old son and decides to run. Pursued by both the Balkan gang responsible for the murder, and the Norwegian police, he has to rely on training from over half a century before to try and keep the boy safe. Against a strange and foreign landscape, this unlikely couple, who can't speak the same language, start to form a bond that may just save them both. An extraordinary debut, featuring a memorable hero, is the last adventure of a man still trying to come to terms with the tragedies of his life.

Mullan, John.What Matters in Jane Austen? Twenty Crucial Problems Solved (Bloomsbury $30).

"Virginia Woolf once remarked that of all great writers Jane Austen was "the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness." If only she'd had Mullan's delightful, though repetitive, book at hand, perhaps Woolf would have discovered the reasons that Austen remains among the greatest, yet most enigmatic, of English authors. Austen expert Mullan (How Novels Work), an English professor at University College London, cleverly captures the novelist's brilliance by answering a set of 20 questions-ranging from unpromising ones such as "How much does age matter?" and "Why is the weather important?" to more seductive ones such as "Do sisters sleep together?" and "Is there any sex in Jane Austen?"-that uncover the details that give Austen's novels their depth and lasting appeal. Through his answers, Mullan demonstrates that Austen "introduced free indirect style to English fiction, filtering her plots through the consciousness of her characters," and "perfected fictional idiolect, fashioning habits of speaking for even minor characters that rendered them utterly singular. In one amusing chapter, he provides many examples of the subtle ways that Austen requires the reader to think about sex. Mullan's humorous guidebook encourages first-time Austen readers to pick up her novels and lovers of Austen to re-read for new details."-PW

Muller, Marcia/Bill Pronzini. The Bughouse Affair Signed (St Martins $27).

This first of a new series of lighthearted historical mysteries set in 1890s San Francisco, former Pinkerton operative Sabina Carpenter and her detective partner, ex-Secret Service agent John Quincannon, undertake what initially appear to be two unrelated investigations. Sabina's case involves the hunt for a ruthless lady "dip" who uses fiendish means to relieve her victims of their valuables at Chutes Amusement Park and other crowded places.  Quincannon, meanwhile, is after a slippery housebreaker who targets the homes of wealthy residents, following a trail that leads him from the infamous Barbary Coast to an oyster pirate's lair to a Tenderloin parlor house known as the Fiddle Dee Dee. The two cases eventually connect in surprising fashion, but not before two murders and assorted other felonies complicate matters even further. And not before the two sleuths are hindered, assisted, and exasperated by the bughouse Sherlock Holmes.

Truly Sherlock Holmes will never die, as we see in this next novel whre Dr. John Watson takes the lead....

Ryan, Robert. Dead Man's Land Signed (SimonSchuster UK $32).

Deep in the trenches of Flanders Fields, men are dying in their thousands every day. So one more death shouldn't be a surprise. But then a body turns up with bizarre injuries, and Sherlock Holmes' former sidekick Dr John Watson-unable to fight for his country due to injury but able to serve it through his medical expertise-finds his suspicions roused. The face has a blue-ish tinge, the jaw is clamped shut in a terrible rictus and the eyes are almost popping out of his head, as if the man had seen unimaginable horror. Something is terribly wrong. But this is just the beginning. Soon more bodies appear, and Watson must discover who is the killer in the trenches. Can he find the perpetrator before he kills again? Surrounded by unimaginable carnage, amidst a conflict that's ripping the world apart, Watson must for once step out of the shadows and into the limelight if he's to solve the mystery behind the inexplicable deaths.

Williams, Charlotte. The House on the Cliff Signed (Macmillan $39).

Actor Gwydion Morgan's dramatic appearance at Jessica Mayhew's psychotherapy practice coincides with a turbulent time in her own life-her husband has just revealed that he's spent the night with a much younger woman. Gwydion, son of the famous Evan Morgan, is good looking and talented but mentally fragile, tormented by an intriguing phobia. Jessica is determined to trace the cause of his distress. So when his mother phones to say he is suicidal, Jessica decides to make a house call. The Morgans live in a grand cliff-top mansion overlooking a rocky bay with its own private jetty. It's a remote and somewhat sinister place. On her visit, Jessica finds out that an au pair who looked after Gwydion as a child drowned in the bay in mysterious circumstances. Could it be that Gwydion witnessed her death? 

In her quest to help her client, Jessica finds herself becoming embroiled in the Morgans' poisonous family dynamic. At the same time, she has to deal with the demands of her own domestic life: her struggle to keep her marriage intact, as well as her older daughter's increasingly defiant behavior. And then, of course, there is the growing attraction she feels towards her new client. Welsh writer Williamson's debut is A First Mystery Pick