"The link to the 30 book room images in your March 1 email is great. One thing: Having spent some time in the library at Biltmore House in Ashville, NC, I doubt that the picture at this site (#21) was taken in that room.  The Biltmore House library is a two story room with a book lined balcony on three of the four walls.  There is a panel somewhere on the balcony that opens to a secret passageway, I suppose in case Mr. Vanderbilt needed a book fix in the middle of the night.  Anyway, it is a much more impressive room than the one in the photo at BuzzFeed."

 

And here it is:  And click here to see the 30 book rooms he notes

 

 

 clicking here. 

and John Sandford click here to view 

And we've added Peter Lovesey, click here to view 

And John Lescroart, click here to view

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Barbara and The Poisoned Pen Staff

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

I gave you a link to current specials, but to stay up to speed you can sign up for weekly emails of the current specials.

Click here to participate in this on-going program.

Edgar winner Julie Smith's work is now available in e-books

Go here:  booksBnimble.com

FRIDAY MAY 17 7:00 PM

Michael Harvey signs The Innocence Game (Knopf $25) 

This is a thriller Harvey is specially gifted and prepared to write! He's also well placed to answer questions about stories told via the visual arts.

The story begins in a classroom at Northwestern's renowned journalism school but quickly spirals into the grittiest reaches of Chicago crime. Along with just two other classmates, Ian Joyce is part of the Innocence Seminar, an exclusive class for top-ranking students taught by a woman who goes simply by Z. The seminar investigates wrongful convictions and cold cases.

On the first day of class, one of the students introduces a case of his own, a long-ago murder of a young boy. The man convicted for the killing is dead; he was murdered decades ago in jail. But there remains evidence suggesting that the real killer is very much alive, and in their midst. As new evidence surfaces, the three classmates find themselves drawn into a web of deceit, corruption, and murder that will leave each of them fighting for their lives.

From the archived depths of storage warehouses to the dense woods and moldering caves of the local preserve to the shores of Lake Michigan, Harvey has once again penned an irresistible, harrowing mystery that also paints a unflinching portrait of his (and my) home town.

This is Michael's first "stand alone", but fans of his outstanding Michael Kelly series will be happy to know that Kelly makes a nifty and memorable appearance.

Michael Harvey, in addition to writing the Michael Kelly P.I. series, is the co-creator, writer and executive producer of the Prime Time Emmy-nominated television series Cold Case Files™ and a former investigative producer for CBS in Chicago. Michael's work as a documentary producer and journalist has won numerous national and international awards, including multiple Emmys and an Academy Award nomination for the Holocaust documentary Eyewitness.  

MONDAY MAY 20 7:00 PM

Sophie Littlefield signs Garden of Stones (Mira $18) 

The Anthony Award winner writes a variety of fiction, all of it well.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, teenaged Lucy Takeda and her family are sent to the Manzanar relocation camp in the California desert, but her father's death leaves Lucy and her beautiful mother, Miyako, without protection. Inside, survival means a seamstress job and putting up with the aggressive advances of George Rickenbocker, a brutal businessman overseeing Miyako's work at the camp. Rickenbocker, a stereotypical villain, gets Miyako pregnant, casually casts her aside, and makes it clear that Lucy is next. Desperate to protect her daughter, Miyako disfigures Lucy, stabs Rickenbocker to death, and hangs herself, leaving Lucy alone until she's allowed to leave the camp. 

"Years later, in San Francisco, a murder investigation leads the police to Lucy's door, and forces Lucy to tell her own daughter, the same age now that Lucy was in the camp, the horrible tale she's kept inside for so long. By looking at the effects of internment across generations, Littlefield makes her tale resonant and universal. While some plot twists are predictable, the gripping story, unfolding over two different decades, makes up for it."-Publishers Weekly Starred Review.

TUESDAY MAY 21 7:00 PM

Walter Mosley signs Little Green (Doubleday $26) 

Mosley sent Easy Rawlins over a cliff and out of sight in

And here is a review from Patrick: "Things weren't looking too hot for Ezekiel Rawlins when we last saw him at the end of 2007's Blonde Faith. The literal cliff hanger ending led many to believe that the iconic, groundbreaking series had come to an end.  Fortunately for us, this isn't the case.  After a long hiatus, Mosley has returned refreshed with one of the most inspired efforts to date. After being nursed back to health by a conjure woman named Mama Jo, the resurrected Rawlins makes his way back to the game he knows best, this time investigating the disappearance of a young man named Evander "Little Green" Noon. The year is now 1967 and the world has been turned upside down: the psychedelic era is in full swing, Vietnam is approaching its boiling point, and little surprise the Rawlins feels a real affinity for the counterculture... An amazing evocation of place and time, not to mention a hell of a story. Don't miss this one..."

WEDNESDAY MAY 22 7:00 PM Ice Cream Social

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

Victorian noir. To offset the dark and scary our friend Mr. Henry, the ice cream man, is serving up cool flavors. Enjoy.

My rave for Grecian's second novel is in the May Booknews. Do take time to read the reviews we write in each issue. My take:

A superb Victorian Gothic is set not in a country house, but in a Northern England mining community in the Midlands. When a human eyeball is discovered in a bird's nest by a little girl, the local constable sends for help from Scotland Yard's new Murder Squad. Sir Edward Bradford sends Inspector Walter Day and Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith, fresh off the grisly murders of 2012 First Mystery Pick The Yard ($27; $16 trade paper) to Blackhampton. 

The two quickly realize they've stepped into something much more bizarre and complicated than they thought when they learn that three members of a prominent family have disappeared from the coal-mining village. The villagers have very intense, intertwined histories. Everybody bears a secret. Superstitions abound, especially a local legend about a monster called Raw Head and Bloody that some of them claim they've seen. Added to that, a flu outbreak is killing off some of the inhabitants...and the village itself is slowing sinking into the mines below it.  The policemen soon realize they, too, may be in over their heads, and not even the arrival of forensics pioneer Dr. Bernard Kingsley seems to help. In fact, the more the three of them investigate, the more likely it is they may never leave-alive. 

This mining village Gothic is in the spirit of modern versions by SJ Bolton and Gold Dagger winner Belinda Bauer. More romantic versions come from Kate Morton.

Here is the Publishers Weekly Starred Review which commends "Grecian's bold melding of horror with historical elements."

Set in 1890, Grecian's startling and spooky sequel to The Yard (2012) charts the efforts of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad to locate a missing married couple and their toddler in Britain's industrial Midlands. In the village of Blackhampton, Inspector Walter Day and his team discover more than one mystery: a girl finds an eyeball under a tree, scores of townspeople are stricken with an unexplained plague, and a hideous figure is lurking in the woods with a gun. Battling local terror and superstition, the squad must also contend with the town's physical collapse into the mines beneath it.... The novel's varied relationships balance pathos with humor and point up lessons on human responsibility-on what we owe to those with whom we're connected. The nascent bond between Day and Sgt. Nevil Hammersmith is especially appealing, hinting at many rich developments to come.

THURSDAY MAY 23 7:00 PM

Josh Harris signs Captain Phil Harris: The Deadliest Catch

Prior to his untimely death in 2010, Captain Phil Harris was a star of Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, the hit show that follows the exhilarating lives of Alaskan crab fishermen as they brave the vicious Bering Sea. He led his crew through hurricane-force winds and four-story- high waves, hauling in millions of pounds of crab and raking in millions of dollars. Phil worked hard, but he played even harder. His life on shore-from his rebellious days to his tempestuous marriages, from his addictive habits to his fundamental American success story-could serve as a reality show in itself. He lived his life at Mach speed: the blitz of crab season, the six-figure paydays, the thunderous motorcycles, and the drug-fueled parties. High-speed chases and all-night blackjack binges were par for the course. 

But as wild as Phil could be, he was a steadfast captain and a hero to audiences across America and around the world. His death in 2010, the result of stroke and heart failure at the age of fifty-three, left a hole in the hearts of millions. In this exclusive authorized biography, Phil's two surviving sons, Josh and Jake Harris, team up with bestselling author Steve Springer and coauthor Blake Chavez to share the thrilling story of Phil's remarkable life.

And then:

SATURDAY MAY 25 NOTE THE 5:00 PM TIME!

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

Enjoy Memorial Day. 

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

Our rate at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa is $95 night plus taxes.

An upgrade to the next level is $115/night.

The Code to use when reserving a room is 2726435

Aames, Avery. To Brie or Not to Brie (Berkley $7.99) 

Cheese Shop Mystery

Carlisle, Kate. The Cookbook Conspiracy (NAL $24) 

Her first hardcover, bookbinding, secret stuff

Clark, Marcia. Killer Ambition (Mulholland $26) 

Prosecutor Rachel Knight #3

Cleland, Jane K. Lethal Treasure (St Martins $25)

 Josie Prescott and antiques and surprises

Hamilton, Steve. Let it Burn (St Martins $26 July 6). 

Alex McKnight a kind of origin story looking back at Detroit

Kahn, Michael. The Flinch Factor (Poisoned Pen $25). 

Lawyer Rachel Gold

Kearsley, Susanna. The Firebird (Sourcebooks $17) 

Suspense/Scottish history 

McKinlay, Jenn. Going, Going Ganache (Berkley $7.99) 

Baking and mayhem

Siegel, Sheldon. The Terrorist Next Door (Poisoned Pen $25) 

 Chicago cop David Gold series start

Qiu, Xiaolong. The Enigma of China (St Martins $26) 

Inspector Chen of Shanghai

Hill, Joe. Nos4a2: A Novel Signed (Harper $30)

Horror master Hill tells us the story of Victoria, a woman who has an unnatural talent for finding things, and Manx, a man who slips out of our reality with children, taking them to a terrifying  playground called "Christmasland." But these two are about to meet, their lives altered forever... A May Indie Next Pick: "From the opening scene, Hill's NOS4A2 gave me everything I want in a horror novel: believable characters coming face to face with fears that are primal and universal and a plot that purrs along like the featured Rolls Royce, speeding on a wide-open night highway. Poet Helen Adam always said that her goal in reciting her creepy ballads was to give listeners 'the grue,' that chill of a skeletal finger down the spine. This book gave me the grue, and it kept on doing it long after I've finished. I dare you not to want to keep reading. I dare you not to be very, very scared. I loved it!"

Yancey, Rick. 

Momentum is building for a YA series like The Hunger Games which is also described as "The Passage meets Ender's Game." After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one. Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. "A fantastic read. The 5th Wave is an electrifying page-turner." -- Kathy Reichs. 

Lea Love of our staff, our Thriller Queen, writes, "Read this book!! I'm not the usual scifi reader, preferring mysteries and the Scandinavian authors, but this book grabbed me and wouldn't let go until I finished it. Hope springs eternal and the human spirit can never be counted out. Although it is considered a YA read, both young and old will be swept up by this epic tale of a hopeless future overcome by the relentless will of our youth."

You will find them by clicking here 

Lea Love says, "Working at The Poisoned Pen is a perfect job for a bookworm such as me....reading is my escape. I enjoy so many authors, from Baldacci and Joe Hill to Claire Matturro, Stephen King, Clive Cussler, James Rollins, and Sue Grafton. The Poisoned Pen is a family tradition: my daughter Megan was on staff some years ago."

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