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Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

TUESDAY APRIL 9 7:00 PM 

 Join us for cupcakes, ice tea, and a party

Lauren has signed all her books but the first here at The Pen and she's chosen to launch this fabulous new British mystery based on a novel called The Bolter written by a descendant of the Bolter... England, Africa, even Scottsdale! 

If you loved Kate Morton's  The Secret Keeper (Allen & Unwin $43 SIGNED Australian first edition) as much as I, then Lauren's standalone novel is for you! But then I'm an unrepentant Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, romantic suspense queen, so updates of this genre when done so well hook me. The Secret Keeper is one of our best-selling British mysteries of the past few months.

You can read a review on our blog of The Secret Keeper by clicking here. And you can buy the US edition ($25) by clicking here.

Lauren's new novel is called The

"The Ashford Affair  is a reader's treat, an artfully-woven saga that sweeps us into the lives of three generations of a family entangled in life-changing secrets. Lauren Willig spins a web of lust, power and loss, taking us from England to Kenya to New York, from World War I to today's modern world, posing a timeless question: what in our own family stories might surprise or shock - or change our lives - if we had access to the whispers from the past?" -- Kate Alcott, 

The April Indie Next Pick for our April British Crime Club Pick: 

"This is a convincing portrayal of 1920s English society and a family history artfully hidden from the current generation. Snippets of information dropped at her grandmother's 99th birthday celebration start Clemmie on a search for the truth about her grandmother. Rich details, realistically flawed characters, and a narrative that travels from England to the high life of the ex-pat community in Kenya and finally to present day America make this a book to remember."

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

$45, Reservations required. We can arrange for you to pay at the door. 

$45 does not include a copy of Lauren's book since the lunch is a fundraiser for scholarships. I will however have books for sale at the lunch.

THURSDAY APRIL 11 7:00 PM

Em Moore, an agoraphobe who ghostwrites celebrity biographies under the joint pseudonym T.E. Blakemore, worries whether she can complete her current project -- an "autobiography" of famed actor-director Garrett Malcolm -- without her writing partner, Teddy Blake, after his death in a car crash. 

Though timid Em always left the interviewing to Teddy, she summons the resolve to talk to Malcolm in his isolated Cape Cod, Mass., beach house. At first, Malcolm casts her aside dismissively, but as Em perseveres and wins his trust and admiration, she persuades both him and herself of her own worth. As she grows closer to Malcolm, secrets about his life begin to pile up-as well as secrets about Teddy's life.

Love, rivalry, and revenge. Barnes is writing suspense here in a break from her 16-book  Carlotta Carlisle PI series set in Boston which I have always gobbled up. Her work has won the Anthony and American Mystery Awards, and received numerous nominations for the Edgar and Shamus Awards. 

SATURDAY APRIL 13 10:30 AM

Coffee and Crime discusses Alan Bradley's debut, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie ($15)

SATURDAY APRIL 13 11:15 AM

Join Coffee and Crime visiting with Alan Bradley by Skype

Barbara interviews Bradley

SATURDAY APRIL 13 2:00 PM

Deborah Ledford signs Crescendo (Second $16)

One murdered woman. A missing child. The diabolic father who will do anything to get his son back. The female cop who risks everything to keep the boy safe. Crescendo - Redemption with a Bullet. Ledford is a member of our local Sisters in Crime Chapter

Kris Neri signs Revenge on Route 66 (Cherokee ($18)

Route 66. How appropriate the road would hold a place of importance to unconventional Tracy Eaton and her dad, aging Hollywood hunk, Alec Grainger. Their Route 66 adventures always included a stay in Tecos, New Mexico, but their regular stop at Lucy Crier's Lunch Pail Café is now a thing of the past, since Lucy plugged her ex-beau and went to the big house for murder. That's why it's perplexing when Lucy, safely ensconced in her cell, is simultaneously seen dodging traffic along Route 66. The road takes a darker turn when Woody  

Archer, Jeffrey. The Best Kept Secret Signed (Macmillan $43).

No. 3 in the Clifton Chronicles. 1945. The vote in the House of Lords as to who should inherit the Barrington family fortune has ended in a tie. The Lord Chancellor's deciding vote will cast a long shadow on the lives of Harry Clifton and Giles Barrington. Harry returns to America to promote his latest novel, while his beloved Emma goes in search of the little girl who was found abandoned in her father's office on the night he was killed. When the General Election is called, Giles Barrington has to defend his seat in the House of Commons and is horrified to discover who the Conservatives select to stand against him. But it is Sebastian Clifton, Harry and Emma's son, who ultimately influences his uncle's fate. In 1957, Sebastian wins a scholarship to Cambridge; after he is expelled from prep school, he unwittingly becomes caught up in an international art fraud involving a Rodin statue that is worth far more than the sum it raises at auction. Does he become millionaire? Does he go to Cambridge? Is his life in danger?

Clark, Mary Higgins. Daddy's Gone a Hunting Signed (SimonSchuster $27).

When the family-owned furniture firm including the museum housing priceless antiques explodes into flames one dark night, trouble has just begun for sisters Kate and Hannah Connelly. Kate had barely escaped the fire alive, but her presence in the building at that late hour aroused rumors and suspicion. Worse yet, the ashes reveal a startling and grisly discovery, and provoke a host of questions. Was the explosion deliberately set? What was Kate-tall, gorgeous, blond, a CPA for one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, and sister of a rising fashion designer-doing in the museum that night? Why was Gus, a retired and disgruntled craftsman, with her? As suspicions grow over Kate's connection to his death, loyal sibling Hannah attempts to make the great leap from promising fashion designer to effective self-taught detective.

Davis, Lindsey. The Ides of April Signed (Hodder $39).

Flavia Alba #1 updates the Falco series to a new player. Flavia Albia is the adopted daughter of a famous investigating family. In defiance of tradition, she lives alone on the Aventine Hill, and battles out a solo career probing the best, and worst, of life in ancient Rome. A female client dies in mysterious circumstances. There have been many other strange deaths all over the city, yet Albia is warned off by the authorities. The vigils are incompetent. The local magistrate is otherwise engaged, organizing the Games of Ceres, notorious for its ancient fox-burning ritual. Even Albia herself is preoccupied with a new love affair: Andronicus, an attractive archivist, offers all that a love-starved young widow can want... As the festival progresses, her neighborhood descends into mayhem and becomes the heartless killer's territory.

Perry, Anne. Midnight at Marble Arch (Random $27).

The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the new jurisdiction of Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation. Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped. Why did high-minded, cultured Catherine choose not to accompany her husband to a grand party on the night of her demise? Why did she dismiss all her servants for the evening and leave the front door unlocked? What had been her relationship with the young man seen frequently by her side at concerts and art exhibits? And what can be done to avenge the assault on Angeles Castelbranco, beloved teenage daughter of the Portuguese ambassador? As an ordinary policeman, Pitt had once entered London's grand houses through the kitchen door. Now he ranges from the lofty world of international politics and finance to his own happy home, where his teenage daughter, Jemima, is coming of age in a culture rife with hidden dangers.

Walker, Martin. The Crowded Grave ($15).

This charming French series has become a bestseller here at The Pen with hundreds of copies of Bruno, Chief of Police ($15), the first case, sold. Gastronomy and oenology plus the distinctive landscape and history of Le Périgord and the Dordogne mix with clever plots to challenge the wily, peace-loving Bruno Courrèges. In his 4^th case, it's spring in the idyllic village of St. Denis, and for Bruno that means lamb stews, bottles of his beloved Pomerol, morning walks with his hound, Gigi-and a new string of regional crimes and international capers. When a local archaeological dig looking for Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal remains turns up a distinctly contemporary corpse (a watch on its wrist, a bullet in its head), Bruno has a new case to solve. But, of course, there are complications: an escalating series of attacks on local foie gras producers by animal rights activists; a summit between France and Spain about to take place nearby; and two beautiful, brilliant women vying for Bruno's affections. 

Walker signs Bruno's 5^th, The Devil's Cave ($25) heron July 16. 

April showers us with wonderful books. It's particularly rich in British mystery (hardboiled, classic, traditional, paranormal) and mysteries and histories of our Southwestern Region. Also in global reach, novels from around the world. Enjoy

To read and/or download the April Booknews, click here

Events, Nonfiction, First Novels, British Books, Global Novels, The Cozy Corner, our new Classics Revisited, Trade and Mass Market Paperback Picks, New Books, Southwestern Stuff, Mass Market Fiction, and 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 -April 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

Note: until Easter Monday is over in New York I can't confirm which title will be our March Thriller Club Pick.

Unsigned Hardcovers: click here

Signed Hardcovers, click here

Trade Paperbacks, click here

Mass Market Paperbacks, click here