The white carnation is a symbol of Mother's Day. 

Don't forget we do our very own programming from The Poisoned Pen. View past and upcoming livestreamed events by clicking here. 

New in Livestream: T Jefferson Parker (biopic and music too)

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Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

You will find them by clicking here 

Patrick Millikin of our Staff who says, "I've been here at the PP since 1995 and I've finally come to terms with the fact that I'm just not cut out for a real job. I'm the big noir fan here on the staff but I read pretty widely."

While The Pen can't yet sell e-books -- our programmer has to do the set up -- Poisoned Pen Press offers all its titles in ebooks

For a look at its specials, free or $0.99, please click here

To read and/or download the May Booknews, please click here

This is a HUGE issue. So many events and good books to cover. Stock up on summer readings. Think gifts for Mom and Dad.

Events, Books for Father's Day, First Novels, British Books, Global Novels, The Cozy Corner, our new Classics Revisited, Trade and Mass Market Paperback Picks, New Books, Mass Market Fiction, and History/Mystery

To browse May books by categories:

Unsigned Hardcovers: click here

Signed Hardcovers, click here

Trade Paperbacks, click here

Mass Market Paperbacks, click here

British Crime Club One paperback or hardcover per month

May: Lovesey, Peter. The Tooth Tattoo

First Mystery Club Up to 24 Signed Firsts per year

Ridgway, Bee. The River of No Return

Rindell, Suzanne. The Other Typist

Fresh Fiction Club One paperback or hardcover per month

May: Ahmad, A X. The Caretaker

Hardboiled Crime Club One Signed First per month

May: Waite, Urban. Carrion Birds

History/Mystery Club One Signed First per month

May: David Morrell, Murder As a Fine Art

History Paperback One per month

Modern First Editions One Signed First per month

May: Simsion, Graeme. The Rosie Project

Surprise Me! Club One Signed First Per Month

May: Palmer, Daniel. Stolen

Thriller Club One First per month, mostly Signed

May: Harper, Tom. The Orpheus Descent

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

Cake! Book Giveaways! Fun!

Morrell, David. Murder As a Fine Art (Mulholland $26). 

Watch the book trailer on our blog - very atmospheric Click here

"The brilliantly plotted thriller will take you to the cobble-stoned streets of Victorian London, where a killer mimics the methods described in a controversial essay, forcing the author to prove his innocence by solving the case." --Entertainment Weekly

The New York Times reviews:

this start of a series: 

"A hot-blooded account of a mid-Victorian case of multiple murder. In the London of 1854, Inspector Sean Ryan, an Irishman in a city that hates Irish immigrants, knows to hide his flaming red hair under a cap before taking to the unruly streets of the East End to investigate the killings of a shopkeeper and his entire household. The forensic science of the day may be primitive, but Ryan can see the similarities between these carefully staged slaughters and the horrific Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811 - a domestic massacre luridly detailed in a contentious work, "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts," by the infamous opium-eater Thomas De Quincey. And wouldn't you know, De Quincey just happens to be in town.

Morrell's style takes some getting used to, since he keeps switching time frames and points of view and dropping bits of background (like a lovely little lecture on laudanum) into the narrative. But, as might be expected from the creator of Rambo, Morrell writes action scenes like nobody's business. And that can be a kind of gift when you have the urge to step out of the drawing room and into a rat-infested alley.

And finally, this from Jon Land:

The book sets Poe-like Thomas De Quincey, who has dissected the craft of murder in his writings, on the elusive killer's trail.  But is this drug-addicted, hallucination-prone author Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde or both?  It's a fair question to raise since the series of murders plaguing London bears close resemblance to the ones related in his works.  So in order to spare himself from scrutiny and even arrest, De Quincey embarks on a quest to find the real killer using his knowledge of artful murder he alone possesses.  He's like an early version of Will Graham chasing Francis Dolarhyde in Thomas Harris' seminal serial killer tale, Red Dragon. David Morrell isn't just one of the best thriller writers out there, he's one of the finest writers alive today.  A preeminent novelist as well as storyteller who, in Murder as a Fine Art, has crafted a masterpiece.

Note: for our West Side readers, David appears at 1:00 PM. We will have books for sale there, too.

Sun City West

Palm Ridge Recreation Center, talk and book signing

13800 Deer Valley Road

WEDNESDAY MAY 8 7:00 PM

Gini Koch signs Alien in the House (DAW $7.99) 7^th in SciFi series

PW writes, "The variously dark and cheerful seventh installment of Koch's Alien series is a crowd-pleaser. Kitty Katt-Martini (a human) and her husband, Jeff Martini (a stunningly handsome Alpha Centaurian), are now Alpha Centauri's ambassadors to the U.S., as well as the parents of one-year-old Jamie, whose accelerated development is outstripping the norms for both races. Following the catastrophic attacks that Kitty called Operation Destruction, Kitty and Jeff are hoping to settle down to a less dangerous if still hectic life. But a tragic assassination attempt and the discovery that every attack and conspiracy may have a single mastermind set in motion a chain of events that will reveal a "dead" enemy is still living and risk the A.C.s being forced into exile or war with Earth. The best hallmarks of the series-frequent banter, head-first dives into action, tangled webs, and Kitty's snark-are in full force again."

Meagan Beaumont signs Carved in Darkness (Midnight Ink $15)

"A homicide inspector and a killer for hire make an unlikely team. Sabrina Vaughn's new partner in the San Francisco PD can tell that something is wrong with her, but he has no idea how bad it is. Fifteen years ago, Sabrina, who was born Melissa Walker in Jessup, Texas, was kidnapped, raped and tortured for 83 days by a psychopathic serial killer. Left for dead in a churchyard with "Mine" carved in her stomach, she somehow survived. Now, her younger brother and sister and her only friend are safe, or so she thinks, until the arrival of Michael O'Shea, a childhood acquaintance whose military record is sealed, turns her life upside down. Michael, a killer-for-hire who has briefly slipped his leash and whose sister was one of a string of victims who all resembled Melissa, wants to use Melissa as bait to catch the killer.... When a fellow cop is murdered, Melissa, a prime suspect, has no choice but to return to Texas and bait the trap. Pulse-pounding terror, graphic violence and a loathsome killer. First of a series."-Kirkus Reviews

Darrell James signs Sonora Crossing (Midnight Ink $15) Del Shannon

Investigator Del Shannon's former lover, Tucson detective Ed Jeski, has been murdered. A kidnapped six-year-old who allegedly possesses the gift of prophetic vision may know something about his death. After a daring rescue from a violent drug cartel, Del and the girl seek refuge with Jeski's former partner, Ray Daniels. Surviving a deadly shootout at the Mexican border, Del discovers there is no end to evil as the girl's alarming visions of further peril hold a grain of sinister truth. Start with

FRIDAY MAY 10 TGIF 7:00 PM

John Sandford signs Silken Prey (Putnam $28) Lucas Davenport

Sandford has always been an in-your-face writer and he takes it up a notch with the woman in the case. 

Lucas Davenport is getting looser as is his commitment to the BCA. So when he's pushed into a quagmire of politics, dirty dealings, and a truly psychopathic female running for the Senate-why not dig in for the truth-or at the very least, a response? A man with Lucas' money and nerve isn't sweating small stuff, or his career. And it's a good thing as this woman who plays by no rules but her own may prove smarter than anyone.... An interesting echo in the news about Senator Menendez and a purported frame up over Dominican prostitutes proves fiction mirrors truth.

Coffee and Crime Club discusses Cristobel Kent's A Fine and Private Place ($15), a police procedural set in Florence, Italy

And then at NOON:

Suzanne Rindell signs The Other Typist (Putnam $26) Unnerving debut novel

Sadie Stein of The Paris Review raves" "Suzanne Rindell's story of a 1920s police stenographer who becomes increasingly obsessed with a glamorous new typist reminds me at points of Notes on a Scandal and Patricia Highsmith, but has creepy charms all its own." 

  This debut is indeed conceived in the spirit of Highsmith and presents a remarkable unreliable narrator. Rose Baker, a nearly Victorian graduate of a convent orphanage, groomed to look completely plain, is forced to earn a living and becomes a police precinct typist, recording the confessions of a succession of criminals with superhuman accuracy. Rose shares a room divided merely by a sheet with a much looser and often treacherous young woman. Then a new typist arrives, elegant and charming Odalie Lazare. Why would Odalie want the job? Rose pockets a dropped brooch and prepares to wait on events. But Odalie really is a charmer and introduces Rose to a modern young roman's life of bobbed hair, speakeasies, smoking, and modernist poetry. And that's not all. At first the bemused Rose turns a blind eye to Odalie's inconsistencies, but then.... It all ends not just in tears but with death, betrayal, and a sober reckoning. The prose reflects Rose and is thus ornate, but the language is part of the picture Rindell paints. A First Mystery Club Pick.

MONDAY MAY 13 7:00 PM Diamond (Daggers) Are Forever

Peter Lovesey signs The Tooth Tattoo (Soho $26) Chief Supt. Peter Diamond in a witty and wicked British crime

Here is a comment from the NY Times: "For the most part, the murder investigation provides the structural framework for a group portrait of the eccentric members of this captivating ensemble and the music they play with such rapturous devotion. Lovesey's droll humor is on ample display as the members of Diamond's investigative team poach ideas from "C.S.I." and tease their gloomy chief for behaving like the depressive Scandinavian policemen in popular fiction. (There are also inside jokes for the musically minded, like the one about Odessa being the source of all the world's great string players.) Even the murder investigation is fun, in its own peculiar way; but for death-­defying thrills, nothing quite compares to the Staccati swinging into Beethoven's Quartet in C sharp minor."  

TUESDAY MAY 14 7:00 PM

Jon Talton signs The Night Detectives (Poisoned Pen $25) David Mapstone goes PI with former Sheriff Peralta. CSI:Phoenix (and some San Diego)

The New York Times reviews 

  "Even writers who have found their groove like to refresh themselves and their sleuths. Jon Talton started the process when he arranged for his Phoenix sheriff, Mike Peralta, to be voted out of office, making things considerably tougher for his series hero, David Mapstone, the sheriff's deputy. Mapstone and Peralta have gone into business as private detectives, and their first case sends Mapstone to San Diego to investigate the death of a young woman whose thuggish "brother" isn't happy with the official suicide verdict....[The case] 

drags Mapstone out of his slump, gives his marriage a boost and gets the new partnership off to a flying start."

Also in trade paper: The Night Detectives ($15)

WEDNESDAY MAY 15 4:15 PM Happy Hour

A Skyped Interview with Dan Brown discussing Inferno (Doubleday $30). Those who buy a copy from The Pen will be put into a drawing for 10 signed copies plus some for mail order customers. Receipt required

THURSDAY MAY 16 7:00 PM

John Lescroart signs The Ophelia Cut (Atria $27) Dismas Hardy

A young woman makes a bad decision and her father ends up a murder suspect in "The Ophelia Cut," John Lescroart's latest courtroom drama featuring defense attorney Dismas Hardy.

Brittany McGuire meets a man in a coffee shop and realizes he's a loser after one date. Rick Jessup starts harassing her, demanding another chance. She goes to his house to tell him to get lost, then passes out and wakes up in his bed. She realizes she's been drugged and raped.

Twenty-four hours later, Rick is dead and Brittany's father, Moses, becomes the prime suspect. Moses has been sober for quite some time, but he's found completely wasted on alcohol. Also, witnesses saw Moses attack Rick when he learned that Rick was stalking his daughter.

FRIDAY MAY 17 7:00 PM

Michael Harvey signs The Innocence Game (Knopf $25) Chicago Legal thriller begins at Northwestern University

MONDAY MAY 20 7:00 PM

Sophie Littlefield signs Garden of Stones (Mira $18)

TUESDAY MAY 21 7:00 PM

Walter Mosley signs Little Green (Doubleday $26) Easy Rawlins

WEDNESDAY MAY 22 7:00 PM Gothic Night

Alex Grecian signs The Black Country (Putnam $27) Victorian Scotland Yard Murder Squad in knockout English Gothic

THURSDAY MAY 23 7:00 PM

Josh Harris signs Captain Phil Harris: The Deadliest Catch

SATURDAY MAY 25 5:00 PM

John Scalzi signs The Human Division (Forge $26) Sequel to

TUESDAY MAY 28 7:00 PM

Clive Cussler and Graham Brown both sign Zero Hour (Putnam $29) NUMA Files Awesome weaponry targets Australia

THURSDAY MAY 30 7:00 PM

Hardboiled Crime discusses Anthony Neil smith's Yellow Medicine ($15) set in rural Minnesota

MONDAY JUNE 3 7:00 PM

Steph Cha signs Follow Her Home (St Martins $25) Debut, Korean community

TUESDAY JUNE 4 7:00 PM A Pair of Crime

Ace Atkins signs a new Spenser Robert B Parker's Wonderland (Putnam $27)

And a new Quinn Colson, the Ranger, in Broken Places (Putnam $27)

June 5 Lauren Beukes June 6: Taylor Stevens; June 8 Jeffery Deaver 2 PM; June 11 Robert K. Tanenbaum (nonfiction); June 12 Craig Johnson; June 13 Ridley Pearson and Jon Steele; June 14 Steve Berry; June 15 Dennis Palumbo 2 PM; June 18: Jason Matthews; June 19: Ingrid Thoft; June 20 Walter Walker; June 23 5 PM Kevin Hearne; June 24 James Rollins; June 25 Linda Castillo; June 27 Dorothea Benton Frank; June 28 Alex Bledsoe; June 29 David Freed 2 PM; July 6 Poisoned Pen Conference. And wait until you see July! Blake; Lutz;Thor; Walker; Kava; Taylor; Silva; Rosenfelt; Huston; Clayton; Fairstein

2013 AGATHA AWARD WINNERS

Best Novel:

Louise Penny, The Beautiful Mystery ($16)

Best First Novel

Susan Boyer, Lowcountry Boil ($16)

Best Nonfiction

Burke & Conolly, eds. Books to Die For ($30)

Best Historical Novel

Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver and An Unsuitable Day for Murder Signed ($14)

2013ARTHUR ELLIS BEST NOVEL NOMINEES (Canada)

Linwood Barclay, Trust Your Eyes ($9.99 July)

Giles Blunt, Until the Night

Sean Chercover, The Trinity Game ($25)

Stephen Miller, The Messenger ($26)

Carsten Stroud, Niceville

Plus a shoutout to our own PPP's Vicki Delany for a Best Novella Nom

Vicki Delany, A Winter Kill (Orca Rapid Reads)

2013 EDGAR AWARD WINNERS (MWA)

Best Novel

Dennis Lehane, Live by Night ($17) 

Best First Novel

Chris Pavone, The Expats ($15) 

Best Paperback Original

Ben H. Winters, The Last Policeman ($15)  

Best Fact Crime

Paul French, Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China ($16) 

Best Critical/Biographical Work

James O'Brien, The Scientific Sherlock Holmes

Best Juvenile Mystery

Jack D. Ferraio, The Quick Fix 

Best Young Adult Mystery

Elizabeth Wein, Code Name Verity ($9.99) 

Robert L. Fish Award (short story)

Patricia Smith, "When They Are Done With Us" -in Staten Island Noir ($16)

Grand Masters

Ken Follett

Margaret Maron

LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE (Mystery)

Tana French, Broken Harbor ($16) Dublin Murder Squad #4

2013 SPOTTED OWL AWARD

Mike Lawson, House Blood ($16). Joe DeMarco

2013 THRILER NOMINEES (ITW)

Best Hardcover Novel

Sean Chercover, The Trinity Game($25)

Brian Freeman, Spilled Blood ($25)

Lisa Gardner, Catch Me ($9.99)

Gregg Hurwitz , The Survivor ($9.99) July

William Landay, Defending Jacob ($7.99)

Best First Novel * = First Mystery Club Pick

Daniel Friedman, Don't Ever Get Old ($15)

*Owen Laukkanen, The Professionals ($9.99)

*Chris Pavone, The Expats ($15)

*Matthew Quirk, The 500 ($16)

*Michael Sears, Black Fridays ($26)

Best Paperback Original

Blake Crouch, Pines ($15)

Sean Doolittle, Lake Country ($15)

Alison Gaylin , And She Was ($5.99)

Alex Marwood, The Wicked Girls ($16)

Michael W. Sherer, Night Blind ($15)