Gomez, Vernona. Lefty, An American Odyssey (Random $28) or trade paper Lefty, An American Odyssey($16)

Tonight, celebrate Spring Training and the sport of baseball with one of its  greatest stars, pitcher Lefty Gomez, brought to you by his daughter Vernona, and his grandson John Banas, a Phoenix attorney.

Not everyone can attend our events so these webcasts provide yet another passport to you readers. The latest Livestream to post is for Dana Stabenow from February 26, and includes her slide show.

See it Here

Buy It Here.

Keep US Here.

Thank you for your continued support

Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

The March Booknews is jam-packed: 28 pages of reading.

And inevitably, some books got left out. I include a few below as well as a couple of Retrospective Raves

Look in the Booknews for

Event Books

Award Nominees

Irish Books

British Books and Going Global Reads

First Novels

Cozies

March Trade Paperback and Mass Market Picks with reviews

More new books

A few YA books

History/Mystery

To see our Picks, please click here

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 -March 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

Poisoned Pen Press announces its second Discover Mystery Contest. 

If you wish to submit a manuscript (polished to perfection!), go here. This year's contest judge is Earlene Fowler.

www.poisonedpenpress.com/contest  

I had a cut-and-paste accident in announcing the 2012 Awards for the Agatha and Bruce Alexander Best Historical Mystery Nominees. With apologies to the authors, here is how it should have read:

Agatha Nominees (Malice Domestic)

The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for Murder by Catriona McPherson 
Murder on Fifth Avenue by Victoria Thompson 
An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd 
Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear

Bruce Alexander Award Nominees (Left Coast Crime)

Patrick hosts Naomi Hirahara at 7:00 PM. She signs

Strawberry Yellow (Prospect $15). 

Curmudgeonly Japanese American gardener and unwitting detective Mas Arai is back in this fifth in the Edgar Award-winning series. Naomi Hirahara has created a memorable protagonist unlike any other: a Hiroshima survivor, Los Angeles gardener, widower, gambler, grandfather, and solver of crimes. In his fifth investigation, he returns to the strawberry farms of his youth in Watsonville, California, where young Mas first arrived as a Hiroshima survivor in the 1940s. He returns for the funeral of a cousin and quickly gets entangled in the murder of a young woman. Was his cousin murdered, too? Mas has to figure out what happened, keep himself safe, and uncover the mystery of the Strawberry Yellow blight and a new strawberry varietal so important that it could be inspiring a murderer. 

Click here for Hirahara's other work.

TUESDAY MARCH 12 7:00 PM 

Join us for cake, rum and a toast to Randy!

Night Moves (Putnam $27) The 20th Doc Ford Adventure! 

We're getting several landmark books this year! This one is a lulu. 

"The enduring puzzle of Flight 19-five Navy torpedo bombers that disappeared on a training flight on December 5, 1945, off the Florida coast-propels bestseller White's captivating 20th Doc Ford novel Seaplane pilot Dan Futch thinks the answer to Flight 19's fate may lie in an unusual Everglades location near some Indian mounds and a mysterious field of human bones. Fortunately, before Futch takes off with Ford and Ford's sidekick, Tomlinson, Futch notices that someone has sabotaged his plane. But who was the intended target? Meanwhile, back home in Dinkin's Bay, Ford must contend with a host of shady characters, including a putative film maker, a skilled assassin, and a Haitian drug dealer. 

"The fact that unexplained elements are noted within a similar time frame while in the field does not guarantee those elements are linked or even significant," Ford muses, but his survival may depend on figuring out those possible links in this intriguing installment." -PW

WEDNESDAY MARCH 13 7:00 PM

 Cara Black signs Murder Below Montparnasse (Soho $26) 

When Aimée LeDuc's long-term partner and best friend Rene leaves their detective agency for a new job in Silicon Valley, Aimée knows she can handle the extra workload. At least, that what she tells herself. Repeatedly. But all bets are off when Yuri Volodya, a mysterious aged Russian, hires Aimée to protect a painting. A possibly priceless long-lost Modigliani portrait, a grieving brother's blood vendetta, a Soviet secret that's been buried for 80 years, maybe news of her long-missing mother.

Order ASAP to get the first print with cool extras only available in it. Plus a chance to win a trip to Paris with Black!

When I wrote this, I was reading the NY Times about violence in Acapulco and danger to tourists. So it is for travel writer Lily Moore who arrives late, exhausted, and very hungry at Acapulco's posh Hotel Cerón. Trying to get to her room, Lily is sidetracked into the bar by colleague Skye McDermott who's looking ill and agitated. Lily is no wizard at interrogation and before you know it, Skye heads off to take a call, leaving her purse behind. Soon Lily becomes convinced something terrible has befallen Skye-and she's right. It proves more complex than she could guess. In Lily's world people are a real mix of good and bad, loyalty and treachery, and mixed motives. Plus criminal enterprise. 

Lily's first case, The Damage Done (out of print), was a First Mystery Club Pick and won the Anthony Award for Best first Novel.

 In The Next One to Fall ($15), Lily is at Machu Picchu when someone tumbles down a stone stairway to his death. It's treated as an unfortunate accident, but Lily knows what she saw....

THURSDAY MARCH 14 7:00 PM

CJ Box signs Breaking Point (Putnam $27) in what his publisher calls his "breakout book"

"The grant of virtually unlimited power with no accountability has gone to the heads of some unelected bureaucrats, and nowhere is that more true than at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)." - The Washington Times

So what assignment sent two EPA Agents from Denver to Wyoming Subdivision Aspen Highlands (near Saddlestring), accompanied by Love from the US Army Corps of Engineers? It ended with two men gunned down and shallowly buried, the arrival of FBI and EPA bigwigs, and a frenzied manhunt fuelled by a huge reward. With Game Warden Joe Pickett, as ever, in the thick of it, though for once, one could say it was strictly by chance. With the new, paraplegic Sheriff Reed heading the local murder team, and Joe looking at a new department director, the investigation is a real head-butter. As ever, Box fills it with surprises. 

While there are personal threads woven into the story, it's good to see Joe working a case strictly because of his job. And not good to see that Joe may end up reaching his breaking point....

This is a terrific book on several levels and should stir you to outrage! As well as curiosity about Joe's career path. Plus the falconer makes a return. And the end will make you cry! 

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 Franc at 11:00 AM so come for that if not for the discussion first.!

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) Stevens & Windermere

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) The 10th Maisie Dobbs!

TUESDAY MARCH 26 7:00 PM Launch Party

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

Date Change: WEDNESDAY MARCH 27 7:00 PM

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

New: THURSDAY MARCH 28 7:30 PM

Ian McEwan at ASU. See Details below.

The 2013 SciFi Meets SciFi Fact Lecture 

Doors Open: Approximately 6:30pm

Start Time: 7:30pm

Cost: Free & open to the public

Where: MUR 101, ASU Tempe Campus | Click HERE for a map of ASU.

Parking: MUR 101 is in the center of campus so you have many choices. For a detailed list of parking locations and rates please click HERE. 

Seating: Seats are open to reservation holders on a first-come, first-served basis and only to the person(s) present at registration. We recommend arriving by 7pm to ensure a seat. We will be opening up all unoccupied seats to non-RSVP'ed guests by 7:15pm.

RSVP: This RSVP system is for predicting attendance. Your RSVP does not guarantee seating. Seats are open to reservation holders on a first-come, first-served basis.

Book Signing: Ian McEwan will be participating in a book signing after the lecture! This opportunity is open to lecture guests on a first-come, first-served basis.

Cancellations: If you are not able to attend, please notify us by emailing deepthought@asu.edu so we may accurately calculate attendance. Thank you in advance for your kind courtesy.

Questions: Please feel free to contact us via email at deepthought@asu.edu or by calling us at 480-965-3240

The American Association of University Women partners with The Poisoned Pen in two fundraisers with two terrific authors.

Missed Dana on February 26? As news arrives that her 20th Kate Shugak , Bad Blood (St Martins $26 Signed)  reached a tie for No. 13/14 on the NY Times Bestseller List, so I report she will be speaking this Saturday March 9 at an Author Luncheon, Leisure World, Mesa. 

Dana says, "In honor of Women's History Month, I'll be giving a talk about growing up on a fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska with my mom. Tickets are $35.

On Wednesday April 10, Lauren Willig speaks to the Scottsdale Chapter at its Author Luncheon in the wonderful Artichoke Grill at Scottsdale Community College. Proceeds go to scholarships for the College.

$45, Reservations required. Details to come

Lauren's new novel, a standalone British mystery, is called The Ashford Affair (St Martins $25)

I will be on  hand at both events selling books for Dana and Lauren

 The Arizona Biltmore hosts our annual Conference once again.

Saturday July 6 9 AM-4:30 PM

Registration $50  Cash buffet lunch. Cupcakes for dessert to go with the Cupcake Cozy Panel

Call 888 560 9919 or 480 947-2974 

Confirmed authors now include:

Avery Aames, Lauren Beukes, Kate Carlisle, Jane Cleland, Steve Hamilton, Michael Kahn, Susanna Kearsley, Jenn McKinlay, Sheldon Siegel,Qiu Xiaolong 

And St Martin's Press editor Keith Kahla will be our Luncheon Speaker. It's July -- think the pool, too

Bowen, Rhys. The Family Way Signed (St Martins $25 ). 

Molly Murphy has always been independent and feisty. Marriage to the NYPD's Daniel Sullivan hasn't changed her. And pregnancy has made her restless and irritable, as has the heat of this 1905 Manhattan summer. When a trip to the post office produces a letter addressed to her now-closed detective agency with a request to find a missing Irish maid, Molly figures just asking around isn't breaking her promise to Daniel to quit the business. Right. Then that same day Molly learns that five babies have been kidnapped in the past month. Agreeing to visit Daniel's mother in leafy suburbia to beat the heat, the two puzzles gnaw at her. And so....

Hart, Erin. The Book of Killowen Signed (Scribner $26). 

After a year away from working in the field, archaeologist Cormac Maguire and pathologist Nora Gavin are back in the bogs, investigating a ninth-century body found buried in the trunk of a car. They discover that the ancient corpse is not alone-pinned beneath it is the body of Benedict Kavanagh, missing for mere months and familiar to television viewers as a philosopher who enjoyed destroying his opponents in debate. Both men were viciously murdered, but centuries apart-so how did they end up buried together in the bog? While on the case, Cormac and Nora lodge at Killowen, a nearby artists' colony, organic farm, and sanctuary for eccentric souls. Digging deeper into the older crime, they become entangled in high-stakes intrigue encompassing Kavanagh's death while surrounded by suspects in his ghastly murder. It seems that everyone at Killowen has some secret to protect. Why would an ancient volume of philosophical heresy provoke a murder(s)?

4^th in the Nora Gavin series which began with FMC Pick Haunted Ground, then Lake of Sorrows and False Mermaid ($15 each). Click here

See the novels of Maeve Binchy, Frank Delaney, Andrew Greeley, Jack Higgins, and Patrick Taylor too. And how I miss the wonderful mysteries of BM Gill.

Benn, James R. Evil for Evil ($15). 

Billy Boyle, Boston cop, WWII soldier, and reluctant sleuth is in Northern Ireland digs into a rich mix of Irish history and wartime intrigue.

Bowen, Rhys. Hush Now, Don't You Cry ($15). 

That Irish lass Molly Murphy is now wed to the NYPD's Captain Daniel Sullivan. They have been invited to posh Newport to spend their honeymoon on the estate of Alderman Brian Hannan in the spring of 1904. Molly doesn't entirely trust the offer. Hannan-an ambitious man-has his eye on a senate seat and intentions of taking Tammany Hall to get it. When Hannan is found dead at the base of the cliffs that overlook the Atlantic, Molly's suspicions are quickly justified and, despite her promise not to sleuth, what can she do? See Event Books for The Family Way.

Bruen, Ken. The Guards ($15). The first of the fabulous Jack Taylor cases, so dark, so Irish, so wonderful. Still stinging from his unceremonious ouster from the Garda Síochána, The Guards, Ireland's police force-and staring at the world through the smoky bottom of his beer mug, Jack Taylor is stuck in Galway with nothing to look forward to. In his sober moments Jack aspires to become Ireland's best private investigator, not to mention its first. Irish history, so full of betrayal and espionage, discourages any profession so closely related to informing. But in truth Jack is teetering on the brink of his life's sharpest edges, his memories of the past cutting deep into his soul and his prospects for the future nonexistent. Nonexistent, that is, until a dazzling woman walks into the bar with a strange request and a rumor about Jack's talent for finding things. Don't stop with this one. Bruen has a wide variety of other work out as well.

Connolly, Sheila. Buried in a Bog (Berkley $7.99).

 Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan visits the quaint Irish village where Gran was born-never expecting to get bogged down in a murder mystery. When Maura realizes she may know something about a dead man found in a bog, she has a sinking feeling she's about to get way in over her head... Starts a series.

Crawford, Isis. A Catered St Patrick's Day ($7.99). 

To most of the people of Longely, New York, St. Paddy's Day means good food, great music, and plenty of Guinness. But when the lifeless body of Mike Sweeney floats to the top of a vat of green beer, it looks like the luck o' the Irish has just run out. Unfortunately for the Simmons sisters, Bernie and Libby, the number one suspect is related to one of their very best catering customers, the pampered and powerful Bree Nottingham. When Bree visits A Little Taste of Heaven to beseech them to clear her nephew's name, they just can't say no. But the more information Bernie and Libby stir up, the more Duncan Nottingham looks like a killer....

Kerrigan, Gene. The Rage (Europa $17). 

Winner of the 2012 Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel gets this review in the NY Times: "Gene Kerrigan's new police procedural isn't your typical Irish crime novel with moody cops and colorful crooks who talk like poets and act like animals. The singular characters who go about their business in Dublin's crippled economy may be on opposite sides of the law, but in Kerrigan's book they're all working-class stiffs struggling to get by.  

McCormack, Mike. Notes from a Coma (Soho $14). 

JJ O' Malley, adopted from a Romanian orphanage by a single father in the west of Ireland, grows up a permanent outsider, and yet he finds his place in the community. At least until his world is shaken by the death of his best friend, and he volunteers for the "Somnos Project," an experimental program testing deep coma as a potential option in the EU penal system. In a prison ship docked in Killary Harbour, JJ is hooked up to monitoring devices that feed out to the Internet, and he and his fellow guinea pigs become global celebrities. A beautifully rendered look at small-town Irish life, and a far-reaching investigation of politics, neuroscience, global communications, and the ethics of incarceration.

McKinty, Adrian. I Hear the Sirens in the Street (Serpent's Tail $26). 

"The second in the "Troubles" trilogy set in civil war-ravaged Northern Ireland in the early 1980s. Sean Duffy, a detective inspector in Belfast suburb Carrickfergus, makes the grisly discovery of a man's torso squeezed into a suitcase. With only a partial tattoo as forensic evidence, Duffy and his detective squad spin some old-fashioned gumshoe police work and secure an identity of the corpse. But from this fast initial progress, the case slows, overshadowed by the continuing "troubles" that are tearing the struggling country at the seams. But the investigation is also thwarted by the faintest hints of conspiracy suggesting that this murder may be just a cog in a much more sinister machine," says a McKinty fan.

O'Donovan, Gerard. Dublin Dead: A Novel (Scribner $15).

"In Irish author O'Donovan's excellent follow-up to 2011's The Priest, Det. Insp. Mike Mulcahy, the head of the Garda Síochána's drug squad's small International Liaison Unit in Dublin Castle, takes on a complex big-time cocaine smuggling case. Mulcahy's under pressure to produce results or his team may be disbanded, and his love interest, reporter Siobhan Fallon, barely recovered physically and emotionally from the injuries she suffered in The Priest, has an ambitious junior reporter slavering at her heels, hungry for her job. Siobhan relentlessly tracks the red-hot story she needs, the disappearance of Cork accountant Gemma Kearney. The alternating narratives of her search for Kearney and Mulcahy's investigations into grisly drug-related homicides first parallel, then converge into a brutal shoot-'em-up climax. O'Donovan pulls out some surprising stops to produce a tech-savvy, raw-edgy police-cum-press procedural with more twists than an Irish tall tale and enough intriguing loose ends to leave readers eager for the sequel."-PW . 

Silva, Daniel. The Marching Season ($9.99).

 Eamonn Dillon of Sinn Fein was the first to die, and he died because he planned to stop for a pint of lager at the Celtic Bar before heading up the Falls Road to a meeting in Andersontown. Twenty minutes before Dillon's death, a short distance to the east, his killer hurried along the pavements of Belfast city center through a cold rain. He wore a dark green oilskin coat with a brown corduroy collar. His code name was Black Sheep. And that's how this thriller opens.