What a week we've just had. Edgar winner Naomi Hirahara, Randy Wayne White with his 20th Doc Ford, balloons, prizes, and we knocked back three bottles of sipping rum and devoured the cake; an evening of travel and travel tips with Cara Black and Hilary Davidson plus the annual meeting of our local Pen Women's chapter for dinner first; and then CJ Box with Dana and me, Joe Pickett, writing the West, hats and tees giveaways (and, gloat, dinner under the beautiful crescent moon over at the Hermosa Inn after for the three of us, a riot)

And now we're poised for tomorrow's party celebrating Rhys Bowen, Erin Hart, and St. Patrick. See below.

To end our marvelous March: John Billheimer and baseball, Owen Laukkanen, an heir to the Elmore Leonard mantle; Jackie Winspear's book launch for the 10th Maisie Dobbs the 25th, William Kent Krueger and the book of his heart the 26 (another luanch), and Ian McEwan at ASU.

I hope thus you'll cut me some slack on my promised Downton Abbey review. I am committing to writing it shortly while Dana and Rob are laying waste to the Scottsdale Farmer's Market. Look for it in a separate Enews.

Not everyone can attend our events so these webcasts provide yet another passport to you readers. The latest Livestreams to post are for Randy and CJ.

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Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

Will has composed a blog post explaining how to use new search features in our STORE

To read (and then apply), please click here

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

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 

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

Green lemonade made by Rob from our own lemon tree, shamrock cookies from Rhys

And from a fan, her contribution:

soda bread tos serve with "English" marmalade

Wear green or... else. (not sure what "else" is but I'll think of some penalty)

Erin Hart (by Skye at 2 PM) signs The Book of Killowen (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 to order each of them, or all. This is our March Surprise Me Club Pick.

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....

Here's some quick info on the holiday

Saint Patrick, who lived during the fifth century, is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. Born in Roman Britain, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. He later escaped, but returned to Ireland and was credited with bringing Christianity to its people. In the centuries following Patrick's death (believed to have been on March 17, 461), the mythology surrounding his life became ever more ingrained in the Irish culture: Perhaps the most well known legend is that he explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock.

Since around the ninth or 10th century, people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Patrick on March 17. Interestingly, however, the first parade held to honor St. Patrick's Day took place not in Ireland but in the United States. On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as with fellow Irishmen serving in the English army. 

MONDAY MARCH 18 7:00 PM

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

This book is such a hint it reprinted so we do not promise first prints 

When a hotshot minor league outfielder asks his trainer, Dale Loren, for steroids, Loren supplies a harmless mixture of cold cream and lemon juice, telling the player it's a brand new steroid that can't be detected by baseball's drug-testing regimen. Believing he has an illegal edge, the outfielder goes on a hitting spree and is called up to the majors where, cut off from his supply of "steroids," he falls into a deep slump. Then he tests positive for drugs and names Loren as his supplier. Loren is fired and, shortly afterward, the outfielder is found dead under mysterious circumstances. Local sportswriter Lloyd Keaton - who lost his money, marriage, and a major-market career to a gambling addiction - sets out to clear Loren's name. In the process, he is threatened by mobsters, shot at, and learns his teenage son is hooked on steroids. Keaton soon discovers that the highest stakes are off the field...and he'll risk more than he ever imagined to protect his family and find the truth.

Billheimer is the author of earlier works including some truly terrific ones set in West Virginia.  

THURSDAY MARCH 21 7:00 PM

 Owen Laukkanen signs Criminal Enterprise (Putnam $27) 

"With this second thriller in a series, Laukkanen's latest provides an entertaining worst-case scenario of an accountant gone bad. 

Carter Tomlin has a lovely wife, daughter and home, but the good life in Minnesota comes crashing down when he's laid off from his accounting job. Now no one wants to hire him, and consulting can't pay the bills. How can he support his family and their lifestyle? Well, banks have money. He'll rob one.... Tomlin amps up his game. Bullets start to fly, and soon, Tomlin is in much deeper trouble than he'd ever expected-and he's loving it, all while his innocent family remains clueless. Meanwhile, FBI agent Carla Windermere and detective Kirk Stevens team up to identify the robber and try to bring him down. They've previously worked together in Laukkanen's debut, The Professionals (2012, a First Mystery Club Pick), and have a professional and personal chemistry that makes them fun to follow and easy to root for. 

Tomlin takes them through plenty of twists and turns as he becomes increasingly unhinged and dangerous--even other bad guys had best give him a wide berth. Fans of crime thrillers shouldn't miss this one or anything else with Laukkanen's name on the cover. The writing is so crisp, the pages almost want to turn themselves. He's a terrific storyteller."--Kirkus Reviews. 

Meet Stevens and Windermere in First Mystery Pick The Professionals ($15).

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) 

We're working out the party for the 10th Maisie Dobbs!

Maisie has come a long way since as a girl she began to learn by reading in the library of her aristocratic employers. A terrible war, personal tragedy, a mentor and a legacy, a hard-won career as a private enquiry agent, a romance with the son of the great house, the role of Maisie's loving, shrewd father Frank, are all part of the fabric of the life Winspear have woven for and around Maisie.

And now you get not only a new case but a broad look at this tapestry. And it all begins with the shooting of a handsome Indian woman dressed in striking silks who is found fallen into a London canal....

Note: our West Side customers can attend an afternoon event for Jackie on March 25, in Sun City West, 1:30pm (doors open at 12:45pm), R. H. Johnson Social Hall, 19803 R. H. Johnson Boulevard.

John will be on hand to sell Jackie's books!

TUESDAY MARCH 26 7:00 PM Launch Party

William Kent Krueger signs Ordinary Grace (Atria $25)  

The Kirkus Starred Review. An award-winning author for his long-running Cork O' Connor series, Krueger aims higher and hits harder with a standalone novel that shares much with his other work. 

The setting is still his native Minnesota, the tension with the region's Indian population remains palpable and the novel begins with the discovery of a corpse, that of a young boy who was considered a little slow and whose body was found near the train trestle in the woods on the outskirts of town. Was it an accident or something even more sinister? Yet, that opening fatality is something of a red herring.... It serves as a prelude to a series of other deaths that shake the world of Frank Drum, the 13-year-old narrator (occasionally from the perspective of his memory of these events, four decades later), his stuttering younger brother and his parents, whose marriage may well not survive these tragedies.

One of the novel's pivotal mysteries concerns the gaps among what Frank experiences (as a participant and an eavesdropper), what he knows and what he thinks he knows. "In a small town, nothing is private," he realizes. "Word spreads with the incomprehensibility of magic and the speed of plague."

Frank's father, Nathan, is the town's pastor, an aspiring lawyer until his military experience in World War II left him shaken and led him to his vocation. His spouse chafes at the role of minister's wife and doesn't share his faith, though "the awful grace of God," as it manifests itself within the novel, would try the faith of the most devout believer. Yet, ultimately, the world of this novel is one of redemptive grace and mercy, as well as unidentified corpses and unexplainable tragedy.  A novel that transforms narrator and reader alike."

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

TUESDAY APRIL 9 7:00 PM

Our First Ever Baby Shower/Book Signing 

It's a Girl, so let's go frilly and pink for Lauren's first child

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 selling books 

 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