Allison Maslan signs Blast off!

Last night we had an inspiring evening with life coach and author Allison Maslan as she disused her book Blast Off!: The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams into Reality

This is the perfect book for any individual or group looking for motivation and we have it signed!

"Blast Off! gives the what and how to create the personal and professional life of your dreams. Allison Maslan’s easy-to-follow program offers a great recipe for prosperity, success and fulfillment." --Marci Shimoff, New York Times bestselling author, Happy for No Reason and featured teacher in The Secret

"When I went to see Allison, I was, like many people, stuck and unfulfilled in my career. Allison helped me to sort myself out and see my potential. She helped me find the clarity and the guts to take the leap. Thank goodness she did! Now I have my own national television show on Discovery Health, 11 Emmys and my first book." --Sam Zien, The Cooking Guy, Author, Just a Bunch of Recipes, Host/Producer, Discovery Health’s TV show Just Cook This!

Get Ready to Love Your Life!
Leading Life and Career Coach, Allison Maslan, will guide you to personal and professional transformation The burning question is “Do you want to be in the same place you are now in ten years, or even five years?” The truth is that you will be asking yourself that same question in another decade if you don’t take action now. There is a completely fulfilling life just waiting to be claimed as your own. The next question is “What are you waiting for?”
* Are you an executive who wants to focus on taking your career to the next level?
* Are you ready to embark on a new business or career adventure?
* Do you want to find your soulmate and manifest the relationship of your dreams?
* Are you ready to take action on building financial wealth and freedom?
* Do you desire to reclaim the healthy, attractive body you deserve?
* Is it time to tap into your spiritual/intuitive side for heightened satisfaction in life?
* Are you not sure what you want but know that there has to be more than this?
Through her proven Blast Off! techniques and practices, Allison Maslan will teach you step-by-step how to let go of limiting fears and beliefs, inspire you to create a new path full of passion and meaning, then personally give you the vision and skills to achieve your dreams and aspirations in all aspects of your life. isn’t it your turn to 3-2-1 Blast Off! to a whole new way of living?

6 Questions to Jumpstart Your Dream Career!

Recently featured on More.com: http://www.more.com/2009/10381-10-questions-to-jumpstart-your

You know you want to make a change: You don’t want to be in the same place you are now in ten years, or even five years. But what if you’re stuck and have no idea what to do next? As a life and career coach, Allison Maslan has helped thousands of people discover a new direction full of passion and meaning. One of the best tools is an inward search. The following questions can help you see your life and its possibilities through a completely new perspective. Write your answers down and embark on the start of a new career.

1. As a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up?

2. What are some of your favorite hobbies or activities—in the present and in the past—and why? Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn your favorite pastime into your dream career?

3. What things have you always wanted to do, but were afraid to try?

4 Think of combining thing you love with what you believe in. For example, Allison’s client, Kenneth, loves parasailing, so he is creating a charity that will help trauma victims heal through this sport.

5. What movies and books have inspired you over the years, and why?

6. If you had plenty of money at your disposal to invest in your own dream career, what kind of business would you start?

An entrepreneur for the last 25 years, life and business strategist Allison Maslan now coaches others to become successful career professionals or start their own businesses and become thriving entrepreneurs themselves. Since January 2009 Allison has helped launch over 15 businesses. Allison herself has owned nine businesses including her own advertising agency.

New Signed Books at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Farndale, Nigel. The Blasphemer ($32)

An astonishing, ambitious and masterful new novel, with echoes of Birdsong, that reads at the pace of a thriller.

On its way to the Galápagos Islands, a light aircraft crashes into the sea. Zoologist Daniel Kennedy is confronted with a stark Darwinian choice. Should he save himself, or Nancy, the woman he loves? But how can one moment of betrayal ever be forgiven? And after he escapes the plane and swims for help, who is the elusive figure who guides him away from certain death?

Back in London, Daniel thinks he finds the answer; it is connected with his great grandfather and the first horrific day of Passchendaele. But as the past collapses into the present, the fissures in his relationship with Nancy show through. Until he is given a second chance to prove his courage and earn her forgiveness. The Blasphemer is a novel that speaks to the head as well as the heart of the reader.

Meyers, Randy Susan. Murderers Daughters ($27) Signed A beautifully written, compulsively readable debut that deals with the after math of a shocking act of violence that leaves two young sisters with nothing but each other—in the tradition of White Oleander, this haunting novel is a testament to the power of family and the ties that bind us together, even as they threaten to tear us apart

Mama was “no macaroni-necklace-wearing kind of mother.” She was a lipstick and perfume-wearing mother, a flirt whose estranged husband still hungered for her. After Mama threw him out, she warned the girls to never let Daddy in the house, an admonition that tears at ten-year-old Lulu whenever she thinks about the day she opened the door for her drunken father, and watched as he killed her mother, stabbed her five-year-old sister Merry and tried to take his own life. Effectively orphaned by their mother’s death and father’s imprisonment, Lulu and Merry, unwanted by family members and abandoned to a terrifying group home, spend their young lives carrying more than just the visible scars from the tragedy. Even as their plan to be taken in by a well-to-do foster family succeeds, they come to learn they’ll never really belong anywhere or to anyone—that all they have to hold onto is each other. As they grow into women, Lulu holds fast to her anger, denies her father’s existence and forces Merry into a web of lies about his death that eventually ensnares her own husband and daughters. Merry, certain their safety rests on placating her needy father, dutifully visits him, seeking his approval and love at the expense of her own relationships. As they strive to carve lives of their own, the specter of their father, unrepentant and manipulative even from behind bars, haunts them. And when they learn he’s about to be paroled, the house of cards they’ve built their lives on teeters on the brink of collapse.

Rowe, Rosemary. Requiem for a Slave ($35)

The eleventh book in the Libertus Mystery of Roman Britain series - Libertus has an important order to fulfil for Quintus Severus, who has commissioned a new mosaic. But when Lucius, the pie-maker, is found dead in Libertus’ workshop, and Libertus’ faithful slave Minimus is missing, he is once again dragged into a criminal underworld. Can Libertus find Minimus, clear him of the murder, and discover who really killed the pie-seller, and why? The omens aren’t looking good . . .


Scott, Manda. Rome Emperors Spy ($31)

'Stop this fire, whatever it takes. I, your Emperor, order it'. The Emperor: Nero, Emperor of Rome and all her provinces, feared by his subjects for his temper and cruelty, is in possession of an ancient document predicting that Rome will burn. The Spy: Sebastos Pantera, assassin and spy for the Roman Legions, is ordered to stop the impending cataclysm. He knows that if he does not, his life - and those of thousands of others - are in terrible danger. The Chariot Boy: Math, a young charioteer, is a pawn drawn into the deadly game between the Emperor and the Spy, where death stalks the drivers - on the track and off it. From the author of the bestselling "Boudica" series, "The Emperor's Spy" begins a compelling new series of novels featuring Sebastos Pantera. Rich characterisation and spine tingling adventure combine in a vividly realised novel set amid the bloodshed and the chaos, the heroism and murderous betrayal of ancient Rome.

Sedley, Kate. Wheel of Fate ($35)

In fifteenth-century London, the child-king is not the only one under threat - 1483. Amidst the chaos following the death of King Edward IV, Roger the Chapman is called to London to investigate a threat to the Godslove family. In the past year, there have been two deaths and a mysterious poisoning. Roger dismisses their worries at first but, when another member of the family disappears, he stumbles across a shocking secret that threatens to destroy the entire Godslove family . . .

So Easy by Ellie Krieger

So Easy So Luscious by Ellie Krieger Signed ($30)

A New York Times' bestselling author's guide to quick and healthy everyday meals

As weekly host of the Food Network's Healthy Appetite, Ellie Krieger is known for creating light and healthy dishes that taste great and are easy enough for the busiest people to prepare. Now, Ellie has put together a collection of meal solutions for those of us who love food and want to eat well but struggle to make it happen given life's hectic pace. With 150 delicious, easy-to-prepare, fortifying recipes, Ellie provides dishes that tackle every possible mealtime situation. Illustrated with 50 full-color photos, there are recipes for:

• Grab-and-go breakfasts for hectic days, as well as easy breakfast options for more leisurely mornings
• Lunches to go, each road-tested in a cooler pack, along with at-home lunches for when you have the luxury of eating in
• A month's worth of different rush-hour dinners-fabulous meals you can whip up in less than thirty minutes-as well as dinners for days when you have a little more time to marinate or roast, but still want it all to be effortless
• Decadent desserts, some ready in minutes, others truly worth waiting for-all easily pulled together

As a mom with a full-time job, Ellie knows how busy life is when you're juggling your family's needs. Now, you can stop stressing over whether to eat healthily or to eat fast. The recipes here-from Cheddar Apple Quesadilla, Pork Piccata with Spinach and Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Marinated Flank Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce to Chocolate-Cream Cheese Panini Bites and Fig and Ginger Truffles-are ideal, regardless of the time, or experience, you have in the kitchen.

When so much in life is complicated, isn't it nice to know that eating doesn't have to be? After making and enjoying the meals in this book, you will say along with the title, "That was SO EASY!"

SIGNED BOOKS JUST IN

Dorsey, Tim. Gator a Go Go($27) Signed

That's right: Serge and Coleman do spring break!
It's been a long time coming, but they're at the party now-and you'll never look at a Frisbee the same way again.
One spring break location obviously isn't enough for Serge, so he must hit them all, traveling through various historic locales, spewing nuggets of history at anyone who won't run away and dispensing his own signature brand of Sunshine State justice.
Along the way he and his sidekick, Coleman, attract a growing following of the nation's top college students . . . and a mysterious gang that leaves a trail of young bodies in their wake.
Are the kids safer under Serge's protection? Or does being with him put them in more peril? The classroom and the pot brownies never prepared them for this.

Pack the cooler, load the car, and head to where the water is warm for a spring vacation you won't soon forget-no matter how much you might try!

Hall, James W. Silencer ($27) Signed

Starred Review from PW, "Shamus-winner Hall's superlative 11th thriller to feature Thorn (after Hell's Bay) finds his iconoclastic Key Largo, Fla., PI with a newly acquired fortune. Thorn is excited when his girlfriend, Rusty Stabler, presents a deal to protect 300 square miles of Florida from development and also put Earl Hammond's Coquina Ranch game-hunting operation out of business. Then Hammond is shot to death, Thorn is kidnapped-but Hall is just getting warmed up. While Thorn tries to figure a way out of the literal hole he's in, Rusty and Thorn's longtime friend Sugarman try to track him. Warped contract killers Jonah and Moses Faust, who deal in serial killer memorabilia, and Hammond's very different sons, ex-football star Browning and Miami cop Frisco, play large roles. Hall steadily ratchets the suspense while seamlessly combining elements of Florida's natural history with elements of the state's early development and overdevelopment."

New Sideline

We now have Hillary Kaye's Matchbox Museum of Fine Art - mystery series.
These Hand-painted matchboxes feature classic crime fiction book covers and movie posters. Perfect for collectors or fans 1 1/3" x 2" $2 each

New Signed Books at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Boyd, Noah. Bricklayer($27) Signed

Someone gives you a dangerous puzzle to solve, one that may kill you or someone else, and you're about to fail. . . . And there is no other option. No one who can help. No one but the Bricklayer.

The Bricklayer is the pulse-pounding novel introducing Steve Vail, one of the most charismatic new heroes to come along in thriller fiction in many years. He's an ex-FBI agent who's been fired for insubordination but is lured back to the Bureau to work a case that has become more unsolvable-and more deadly-by the hour.

Nadel, Barbara. Death by Design($45) Signed

Barbara Nadel's new Turkish crime novel sees Inspector Ikmen tackling a complex case of organized crime in London.

When the Istanbul police raid a counterfeit goods factory in the run-down district of Tarlabasi, a young man with explosives strapped to his chest blows himself up in front of them. In the process, Istanbul's Inpsector Çetin Ikmen is injured. Documents found in the factory lead the authorities in both Istanbul and London to believe that a terrorist attack, in part orchestrated from the Tarlabasi factory, is about to be enacted in the British capital. Ikmen goes undercover amongst the Turkish community of North London, although what he uncovers there is certainly not what his British colleagues were expecting...

New colorful reusable Poisoned Pen bags!

It is estimated that in one year,one shopper throws out 500 plastic bags.


We are joining the mission is to reduce single-use bag waste by offering compact reusable bags and packs that are designed to fold up for storage and used over and over again.

These wonderful light-weight bags are $9.95 and are available in: Black, Blue, Pale Green, Red and Purple all with our logo in white ink.


You can also reduce your waste and wrap gifts with these colorful reusable bags!

Click here to watch a video on how to use your new Poisoned Pen bag as gift wrap!

New Signed Books at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Gage, Leighton. Dying Gasp ($26) Signed

The granddaughter of a prominent politician is missing. Silva and his team find her in Manaus, a jungle hellhole on the Amazon where an evil female doctor is making gory snuff films. Silva must overcome his own department's indifference and the corrupt local cops before he can obtain a semblance of justice for the victims.




Hess, Joan. Merry Wives of Maggody ($27) Signed

Maggody, Arkansas (pop. 755) is perceived of as a two-bit hick town, filled with one-bit hicks. But Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanan seeks to change that perception with her latest scheme-a charity golf tournament. This presents a bit of a challenge, since no one in Maggody plays golf and there is no course. But when the prize for the first hole-in-one is announced-a top of the line bass boat-nearly everyone in town develops a new-found interest in the sport. The town goes golf crazy, trying to learn the sport in time to win the bass boat, with limited success and maximum domestic disorder. Sheriff Arly Hanks, who has better things to worry about, just wishes it would all go away. When a small-town golf instructor wins the bass boat on the first day of the tournament, it looks like all the excitement is over. But the next morning, when he's found dead, sitting in the parking lot in the front seat of the bass boat, the prize is once again up for grabs and nearly everyone in town is a murder suspect.

The Parisian Prodigal

Gordon, Alan. Parisian Prodigal ($28) Signed

“Only a fool would pass this one up.” —Laurie R. King In 1205, Theophilos—a fool by trade, a family man by choice, and a spy by design—belongs, along with his family, to the Fools’ Guild, a group that secretly maintains the fragile order of society. In Toulouse, that order is threatened when, unexpectedly, a man claiming to be a full brother of the ruling count is found one morning in a local bordello next to a dead whore, killed with his own sword. Now, Theophilos and his family must uncover the truth.

New Signed Books at The Poisoned Pen

Bennett, Robert Jackson. Mr. Shivers ($22) Signed

It is the time of the Great Depression.

Thousands have left their homes looking for a better life, a new life. But Marcus Connelly is not one of them. He searches for one thing, and one thing only. Revenge.

Because out there, riding the rails, stalking the camps, is the scarred vagrant who murdered Connelly's daughter. No one knows him, but everyone knows his name: Mr. Shivers.

In this extraordinary debut, Robert Jackson Bennett tells the story of an America haunted by murder and desperation. A world in which one man must face a dark truth and answer the question-how much is he willing to sacrifice for his satisfaction?

Stroby, Wallace.Gone Til November ($27) Signed

It's late at night when Florida sheriff's deputy Sara Cross arrives at the scene of a roadside shooting along a deserted highway. Another deputy, Billy Flynn, her former partner, who also happens to be her former lover, has fatally shot a twenty-two-year-old man during what started out as a routine traffic stop, and she's the first to arrive on the scene. He claims that the man pulled a gun, and that when he didn't respond to Billy's commands to drop it, Billy shot him. Billy is clearly upset, shaken up; Sarah sees the gun in the dead man's hand and the bag of illegal weapons in the trunk of his car and believes Billy's actions were justified.

Up north in New Jersey, Mikey-Mike runs a major drug operation and is tightening his hold on the competition, making a deal with a new supplier. Morgan, a middle-aged enforcer for Mikey who's been in the life too long, would like to make one last score, walk away, and retire for good. Mike asks Morgan to head to Florida to find out what's holding up his new deal, and Morgan sees the job as a possibility for his last big payday.

As more details of the roadside shooting emerge with Sara's investigation, and as Morgan follows the trail Mikey lays out for him, the two storylines begin to merge into a much darker, more menacing scenario than either Morgan or Sara imagined. Sara, in order to protect herself and her son, must follow the truth no matter where it leads.

Acclaimed crime writer Wallace Stroby delivers a gripping novel that is part modern noir, part intense character study---and totally compelling from start to finish.

New Signed Books at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Goddard, Robert. Long Time Coming ($41) Signed

Eldritch Swan is a dead man. Or at least that is what his nephew Stephen has always been told. Until one day Eldritch walks back into his life after 36 years in an Irish prison. He won't reveal any of the details of his incarceration, insisting only that he is innocent of any crime. His return should be of interest to no-one. But the visit of a solicitor with a mysterious request will take Eldritch and his sceptical nephew from sleepy seaside Paignton to London, where an exhibition of Picasso paintings from the prestigious Brownlow collection proves to be the starting point on a journey that will transport them back to the Second World War and the mystery behind Eldritch's imprisonment. In 1940, he was personal assistant to a wealthy diamond dealer in Antwerp, whose collection of modern art was the envy of many. The subsequent disappearance of those paintings began a trail of murder and intrigue which was to have a catastrophic effect on Eldritch's life. But untangling the web of murky secrets, family ties and old betrayals that conceals the truth will prove to be a dangerous pursuit for Eldritch and Stephen. Before long, a mysterious enemy is doing everything possible to stop the truth emerging - at whatever cost...

Hewson, David. The Blue Demon. ($31) Signed

Twenty years ago, a mysterious group called the Butteri committed a series of bizarre crimes evoking the lost race of the Etruscans, and leaving in their wake a several bodies, a cryptic message, and a kidnapped child.
Now, the leaders of the G8 are descending on Rome for a summit at the Quirinale Palace. But when a politician is found ritually murdered, seemingly by a strange young man dressed as the Etruscan blue demon, detective Nic Costa suspects that the old case was never really solved. The Butteri have returned - and are planning to unleash a devastating sequence of attacks on the city.
Officially sidelined from the investigation but encouraged by the wily old Italian President, Dario Sordi, Costa and his team start to dig deeper into the past. There are still too many questions left unanswered - and much more to the history of the Butteri than anyone wants to admit . . .

Melanie Benjamin signed our first editions of Alice I Have Been

Melanie Benjamin signed our first editions of Alice I Have Been ($27) Signed "I saw an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago several years ago, titled "Dreaming in Pictures: the Photography of Lewis Carroll." I did not know that Lewis Carroll was a pioneer in photography; I did not even know that Lewis Carroll was a pseudonym for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Certainly I had no inkling that there had ever been a "real" Alice! Once inside the exhibit, however, I was startled by the images Carroll-Dodgson-had taken; they were all prepubescent little girls. One photograph in particular captured my fancy; it was of a girl clad in rags, staring at the camera with a very frank-very adult-gaze. The caption informed me she was 7-year-old Alice Liddell, the daughter of Dean Liddell of Christ Church, Oxford, where Dodgson taught mathematics. The caption also said she was the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. "Hmmm...I wonder what ever happened to her?" I completely put it out of my mind while thinking about other writing projects! It wasn't until a few years later, when my friend Nic was visiting me from Australia and I took her to the Art Institute, that I remembered that earlier exhibit. Nic was the one who literally shoved me in front of the computer and told me I had to write this story; once I caught her enthusiasm and began to research it, the story just poured out of me. Through that research, then, I was re-introduced to the classic story; I read both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and was charmed and surprised. They were nothing like I had thought; I remain astonished at how clever a writer is Carroll, especially his playfulness with language." To read more click here

New Signed Books at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Ford, Jasper. Shades of Grey (26) Signed

From the bestselling author of Thursday Next-a brilliant new novel about a world where social order and destiny are dictated by the colors you can see

Part social satire, part romance, part revolutionary thriller, Shades of Grey tells of a battle against overwhelming odds. In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color-but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means.

Eddie's world wasn't always like this. There's evidence of a never-discussed disaster and now, many years later, technology is poor, news sporadic, the notion of change abhorrent, and nighttime is terrifying: no one can see in the dark. Everyone abides by a bizarre regime of rules and regulations, a system of merits and demerits, where punishment can result in permanent expulsion.

Eddie, who works for the Color Control Agency, might well have lived out his rose-tinted life without a hitch. But that changes when he becomes smitten with Jane, a Grey Nightseer from the dark, unlit side of the village. She shows Eddie that all is not well with the world he thinks is just and good. Together, they engage in dangerous revolutionary talk.

Pattison, Elliot. Eye of the Raven, A Mystery of Colonial America
($28) Signed

With the aid of the Indian Shaman Conawago, Duncan McCallum has begun to heal from the massacre of his Highland clan by the British. But his new life is shattered when he and Conawago discover a dying Virginian officer nailed to an Indian shrine tree. To their horror, the authorities arrest Conawago and schedule his hanging. As Duncan begins a desperate search for the truth, he finds himself in a maelstrom of deception and violence. The year is 1760, and while the British army wishes to dismiss the killing as another casualty of its war with France, Duncan discovers a pattern of ritualistic murders that have less to do with the war than with provincial treaty negotiations and struggles between tribal factions. Ultimately he realizes that to find justice, he must brave the sprawling colonial capital of Philadelphia. There the answers are to be found in a tangle of Quakers, Christian Indians, and a scientist obsessed with the electrical experiments of the celebrated Dr. Franklin. With the tragic resolution in sight, Duncan understands the real mysteries underlying his quest lie in the hearts of natives who, like his Highland Scots, have glimpsed the end of their world approaching.

New Sidelines

It's always a challenge to come up with interesting sidelines. Sure we have cups and caps and tee-shirts and bookmarks galore.








And now we have Antiquarian Pocket Pads $9.99
for a set of 4.


And Antiquarian Bookplates
$12.99 (set of 55) to personalize you library.

Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spencer Quinn Signed

Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spencer Quinn Signed

Following the acclaimed Dog On It, the second mystery in the Chet and Bernie series featuring an irresistible canine narrator.

Second in a series called, "Nothing short of masterful.... Sequels are a given, and a must. "-- Los Angeles Times

"A winning debut...that fans of classic mysteries are sure to appreciate."-- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Stalwart, often mischevious narrator Chet's amusing, perceptive canine take on [the novel's] human characters should appeal to hard-boiled fans and canine fanciers alike."-- Kirkus Reviews

New Signed Books at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Crais, Robert. First Rule ($27) Signed

From the New York Times-bestselling author who sets the standard for intense, powerful crime-writing comes a blistering thriller featuring Joe Pike and Elvis Cole.

The Watchman put Joe Pike, Elvis Cole's strong, taciturn partner, front and center, and not only won Robert Crais new audiences but remarkable reviews. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel said "Robert Crais elevates crime fiction" and now with The First Rule he does it again.

The organized criminal gangs of the former Soviet Union are bound by what they call the thieves' code. The first rule is this: A thief must forsake his mother, father, brothers, and sisters. He must have no family-no wife, no children. We are his family. If any of the rules are broken, it is punishable by death.

Frank Meyer had the American dream-until the day a professional crew invaded his home and murdered everyone inside. The only thing out of the ordinary about Meyer was that- before the family and the business and the normal life-a younger Frank Meyer had worked as a professional mercenary, with a man named Joe Pike. The police think Meyer was hiding something very bad, but Pike does not. With the help of Cole, he sets out on a hunt of his own-an investigation that quickly entangles them both in a web of ancient grudges, blood ties, blackmail, vengeance, double crosses, and cutthroat criminal­ity, and at the heart of it, an act so terrible even Pike and Cole have no way to measure it. Sometimes, the past is never dead. It's not even past.

The First Rule is the most astonishing novel yet from the master of the crime thriller.

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Committed ($27) Signed

At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous horrific divorces. Enough said.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government, which-after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing-gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again. Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving into this topic completely, trying with all her might to discover through historical research, interviews, and much personal reflection what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is. Told with Gilbert's trademark wit, intelligence and compassion, Committed attempts to "turn on all the lights" when it comes to matrimony, frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, family tradition, social expectations, divorce risks and humbling responsibilities. Gilbert's memoir is ultimately a clear-eyed celebration of love with all the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.

Hoffman, Beth. Saving Ceecee Honeycutt ($28) Signed

Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel sparkling with humor, heart, and feminine wisdom

Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell.

In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie's all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.

Kostova, Elizabeth. Swan Thieves ($27) Signed

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.

Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love. THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

NY Times Crime Critic Marilyn Stasio recommends these from 2009

Wonderful 2009 titles to add to your 'To Read' List

Connelly, Michael. The Scarecrow ($28 Signed)

Mosley, Walter. The Long Fall ($)

Vine, barbara. The Birthday Present ($25)

Deaver, Jeffrey. Roadside Crosses ($27)

Paretsky, Sara. Hardball ($26 Signed)

McDermid, Val. A Darker Domain ($25)

Indridason, Arnaldur. Arctic Chill ($25)

Roslund/Hellstrong. Box 21 ($26)

Neville, Stuart. Ghosts of Belfast ($25 Signed)

Lange, Richard. This Wicked World ($24)

Huston, Charlie. The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death ($15)

Hall, Tarquin. The Case of the Missing Servant ($24)

Arsenault, Emily. The Broken Teaglass ($25)

Bradley, Alan. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie ($15; $150 Signed UK)

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman Signed

Don't miss this lovely debut, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman ($28)

★ Starred Review From LIBRARY JOURNAL, “In Hoffman’s charming debut, Cecelia Rose (CeeCee) Honeycutt tells the story of her tragic life and the strong women who stepped in to save her. At age 12, CeeCee realizes her mother, flouncing around Willoughby, OH, in prom dresses and matching shoes, is crazy and the town’s laughingstock. Her father is never home, and nothing is going to change so CeeCee buries herself in books as an escape. But her true liberation comes after her mother’s tragic death when great-aunt Tootie sweeps CeeCee off to Savannah. There, a group of powerful, independent women offer the young girl love, laughter, and a new chance at life. Readers who enjoy strong female characters will appreciate CeeCee, a survivor despite her heartbreaking childhood, and Aunt Tootie and her friends, all of them steel magnolias. VERDICT: Exemplifying Southern storytelling at its best, this coming-of-age novel is sure to be a hit with the book clubs that adopted Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees.”

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Galley Talk”, “Welcome to my world, baby girl” (to paraphrase Fannie Flagg’s title) is what came to my mind on meeting the narrator of Beth Hoffman’s delightful debut, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt (Viking, Jan.). Twelve-year-old CeeCee is a survivor. Alone too much, and with too much responsibility because of her psychotic mother, CeeCee is old beyond her years. When her mother dies, her mostly absent father sends her south from Ohio to Savannah under the care of her never-before-seen Great Aunt Tootie. The reader is introduced to a wide assortment of Southern women, each of whom plays a role in CeeCee’s healing and coming to terms with her life. Each character also helps paint a detailed picture of the dichotomy between the ‘old South,’ with its decaying gentry, and the changing South, where black and white are more than servant/mistress and white gloves are being exchanged for jeans and flip-flops. This lovely novel has earned the status of ‘LizPick’ even before it’s published.”

New Signed Books at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Doetsch, Richard. 13th Hour ($28 Signed)

A mesmerizing thriller -- told in reverse! The 13th Hour is the story of a man given the chance to go back in time in one-hour increments to prevent a vicious crime from destroying his life.

Nick Quinn is being held in jail, accused of the murder of his beloved wife, Julia. He knows she's dead; he saw her bloody corpse, shot in the head at point-blank range. The police tell him they found the murder weapon with his fingerprints on it in the trunk of his car. Nick is confused, grief-stricken -- and completely innocent.

At 9 p.m. on July 28, a gray-haired gentleman visits Nick in the police interrogation room and asks him a simple question: "If you could get out of here, if you could save her, would you?" He hands Nick a golden talisman that allows Nick to go back in time, one hour at a time, for a total of twelve hours. With each hour that Nick travels back, he finds more clues to the identity of Julia's real killer, but he also discovers that his actions in the past may have unexpected repercussions in the future.

In his race against time to save the woman he loves most in the world, Nick will find that friends become enemies, old loyalties are tested, and Julia's murder is part of a larger scheme that has its roots in greed and vengeance. Nick has the ability to save Julia, the chance to put his own world in balance, but he is venturing down a precarious route. If he hasn't set things right by the thirteenth hour, his desperate attempts to save Julia's life may lead to a far greater catastrophe than he could have ever imagined.

A surprising and utterly original thriller, The 13th Hour is pure page-turning suspense -- full of double crosses, cliffhangers, and shocking revelations.

Estleman, Loren D. Alone ($27 Signed)

The second wacky comedic murder romp for Hollywood film detective ValentinoValentino wants to keep The Oracle, his beloved run-down movie palace, from being condemned before it even reopens, but murder keeps intruding into his otherwise quiet life. At a gala party held in memory of screen legend Greta Garbo, he’s having fun until the host, a hotshot developer named Rankin, tells Valentino about a certain letter from Garbo to his late wife. She and Garbo had been…close.Such a letter is of great interest to a film archivist like Valentino, but the the plot thickens when Rankin tells Val that his assistant, Akers, is using this letter to blackmail him. Val is appalled by the thought of blackmail…but that letter sounds juicier all the time. Returning to Rankin’s mansion after the party, Val finds Rankin sitting at his desk with a pistol in his hand, looking at Akers’s dead body on the floor.Valentino’s in a quandary. He’d love to see that letter, but he can’t. He’s gotten his girlfriend—who works for the police—in trouble, so his love life is, pardon the expression, shot to hell. Worse yet, the building inspector has kicked him out of his unfinished living space in the Oracle, so he takes his life in his hands and moves in with his eccentric mentor, the elderly, insomniac Professor Broadhead. No love, no sleep, no letter—life isn’t fair!

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Committed ($27 Signed)

At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who’d been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous horrific divorces. Enough said.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government, which—after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing—gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again. Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving into this topic completely, trying with all her might to discover through historical research, interviews, and much personal reflection what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is. Told with Gilbert’s trademark wit, intelligence and compassion, Committed attempts to “turn on all the lights” when it comes to matrimony, frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, family tradition, social expectations, divorce risks and humbling responsibilities. Gilbert’s memoir is ultimately a clear-eyed celebration of love with all the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.

McPherson, Catriona. Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains ($45 Signed)

1st May 1926 - Dear Alec,
Just when those who should be working are all downing tools for this wretched strike (and I still can’t believe it – I mean to say: riots, Alec – in Edinburgh of all places) guess who is setting her virgin shoulder to its very first wheel?
I am dressed in serge and sensible footwear, sleeping in an iron bed and dining off pickled tongue at six o’clock each day. I am, in short, that nice young Mrs Balfour's new maid. But don’t worry, Alec dear: things haven’t got as bad as all that. It’s just that that nice young Mr Balfour is going to kill his wife. At least, she thinks so, and the more I hear about him from butler, cook and bootboy the more I’m inclined to agree.
So I’m undercover, in disguise, bent upon foiling. And jolly hard work it is too – tomorrow is my half-day free if you’d care take me out for a restorative bun. (Every maid needs a beau to buy buns for her.)
Yours,
Dandy xx
p.s. Ask for Miss Rossiter: below stairs I am she.

Nikitas, Derek. The Long Division ($27 Signed)

This title earned a Starred Review from PW, "At the start of Nikitas's stellar second novel (after his Edgar-finalist debut, Pyres), Jodie Larkin, a house cleaner in Atlanta, succumbs to temptation—she steals $5,000 and a car from a client—and sets off to visit the son she gave up for adoption and whom she hasn't seen in five years. Cal Nowak, Jodie's now 15-year-old son, lives in Cape Fear, N.C., and is struggling with his sexual identity. Together, Jodie and Cal set off north on a desperate, doomed journey. Meanwhile, SUNY student Wynn Johnston is trying to help a friend rescue the friend's missing sister, and Weymouth, N.Y., deputy Sam Hartwick must deal with his dying wife and a double murder. Sentences, paragraphs, even chapters don't so much end as act like synapses jumping to the next sequence. Nikitas effectively picks up and drops each thread. Beautifully realized characterizations power complex story lines that meet and connect this disparate group with the inevitability of Greek tragedy. "

Some of the Poisoned Pen Staff Pick the Best of 2009

Joanne HamiltonSelway
1. Stockton, Kathleen. The Help ($25)
2. Collins, Suzanne Catching Fire ($18)
3. Walls, Jeannette. GlassCastle ($15)
4. Shaffer, Mary Ann. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ($14)
5. Krakauer, John. Where Men Win Glory: the Odyssey of Pat Tillman ($28)
6. Harris, Charlaine. Dead and Gone ($26)
7. Kingsolver, Barbara. The Lacuna ($40) Signed
8. Schenkar, Joan. The Talented Miss Highsmith ($40)
9. Larsson, Stieg. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (15)
10 Barbery, Muriel. Elegance of the Hedgehog ($15)

John Goodwin
1. Ferrigno, Robert. Heart of the Assassin ($28) Signed
2. Ghelfi, Brent. Venona Cable ($25) Signed
3. Fesperman, Dan. Arms Maker of Berlin ($27) Signed
4. Burke, James Lee. Rain Gods ($28) Signed
5. Rankin, Ian. Complaints ($25)
6. Kanon, Joseph. Stardust ($28) Signed
7. Ellroy, James. Bloods a Rover( $28)
8. Bradley, Alan. Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie ($15)
9. Pattison, Eliot. Lord of Death ($26) Signed
10. God. Green Bible ($30)

John Nadeau
1. Burke, James Lee. Rain Gods ($28 Signed)
2. Sandford, John Wicked Prey ($28)
3. Leather, Stephen. Live Fire ($15)
4. Koryta, Michael. Silent Hour ($25 Signed)
5. Lakeman, Thomas. Broken Wing ($26)
6. Box, CJ. Three Weeks To Say Goodbye ($7.99)
7. Morrell, David. The Shimmer ($26) Signed
8. Gage, Leighton. Buried Strangers ($13)
9. Atkins, Ace. Devil's Garden ($25)
10. White, Randy Wayne. Dead Silence ($26)

Lea Love
1. Bazell, Josh. Beat the Reaper ($15)
2. Ryan, Andie. Shakedown ($16)
3. Bauermeister, Erica. School of Essential Ingredients ($15)
4. Quinn, Spenser. Dog on It ($15)
5. Stockton, Kathleen. The Help ($25)
6. Larsson, Stieg. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (15)
7. Larsson, Stieg. Girl Who Played with Fire ($26)
8. Littlefield, Sohie. Bad Day For Sorry ($25)
9. Barr, Nevada. 13 1/2 ($26) Signed
10. Cain, Chelsea. Evil at Heart ($25) Signed

Lorri Amsden
1. Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire ($18)
2. Correia, Larry. Monster Hunter International ($8) Signed
3. Levitt, John. Unleashed ($8)
4. Clare, Cassandra. City of Glass ($18)
5. Snyder, Maria V. Storm Glass ($14)
6. Simner, Janni Lee. Bones of Faerie ($17)
7. Dann, Jack. The Dragon Book ($25)
8. Garcia, Kami and Margaret Stohl. Beautiful Creatures ($18)
9. Harris, Charlaine. Grave Secrets ($27) Signed
10. Kingsolver, Barbara. The Lacuna ($40) Signed

Patrick Millikin
1. Abbott, Megan. Bury Me Deep ($15)
2. Ellroy, James. Bloods a Rover ($28)
3. Green, Norman. The Last Gig. ($28)
4. Huston, Charlie. The Mystic Arts of Erasing all Signs of Death.($15)
5. Lange, Richard. This Wicked World ($24)
6. Littlefield, Sohie. Bad Day For Sorry ($25)
7. Neville, Stuart. Ghosts of Belfast ($25) Signed
8. Nikitas, Derek. The Long Division ($27) Signed
9. Rabb, Jonathan. Shadow And Light ($26)
10. Rayner, Richard. A Bright and Guilty Place ($25)

Pat King
1.Larsson, Steig. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ($15)
2. Correia, Larry. Monster Hunter International ($8)
3. Butcher, Jim. Turn Coat. ($26)
4. Quinn, Spencer. Dog On It ($15)
5. Carey, Mike. Dead Men's Boots ($26)
6. Penny, Louise. Brutal Telling ($25) Signed
7. Fesperman, Dan. Arms Maker of Berlin ($25) Signed
8. Sanderson, Brandon. Gathering Storm ($30) Signed
9. Walker, Martin. Bruno Chief of Police ($25)
10. Crombie, Deborah. Necessary As Blood ($25) Signed

Will Hanisko
1. Wambaugh, Joseph. Hollywood Moon ($27) Signed
2. Sanderson, Brandon. The Gathering Storm ($30) Signed
3. Connolly, John. The Gates ($24) Signed
4. Bruen, Ken and Reed Farrel Coleman. Tower ($15)
5. Millikin, Patrick. Phoenix Noir ($16) Signed
6. Grafton, Sue. U is for Undertow ($28) Signed
7. Abbott, Megan. Bury Me Deep ($15)
8. Bradley, Alan. Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie ($15)
9. Simmons, Dan. Drood ($27)
10. Siger, Jeffrey. Murder in Mykonos ($15)

OK, what about me, Barbara?
All the Club Picks but the Hardboiled Club represent favorites for me.
The 2009 Club Picks list will be posted shortly.

Meanwhile here are some of my favorites available in trade paperbacks:

Abbott, Megan. Bury Me Deep ($15)
Barron, Stephanie. WhiteGarden ($15)
Bauermeister, Erica. School of Essential Ingredients ($15)
Bazell, Josh. Beat the Reaper ($15)
Bradley, Alan. The Sweetness in the Bottom of the Pie ($15)
Clements, Rory. Martyr ($15)
Dillon, Eilis. Death at Cranes Court ($15)
Gage, Leighton. Buried Strangers ($13)
Hall, MK. Coroner ($16)
Lee, Janice. The Piano Teacher ($15)
Myers, Tamar. The Witch Doctor's Wife ($15)
Nunn, Mala. A Beautiful Place to Die ($15).
Ryan, Andie. Shakedown ($15)
Siger, Jeffrey. Murder in Mykonos ($15)

New in Paperback

Berry, Steve. The Charlemagne Pursuit ($10)

Rob and I had just been in Bavaria when the hardcover of this latest Cotton Malone historical thriller published. While it ranges from Germany to Antarctica as Malone, chasing answers as to why the supposed 1971 death of his father Capt. Forrest Malone in a nuclear sub accident in the North Atlantic was actually on a secret mission to Antarctica, and dodging the evil admiral scheming to become the next ranking officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stumbles upon an amazing, hidden civilization. Charlemagne, Nazis, ancient manuscripts, historical puzzles and scientific surprises figure into a plot rich as a plum pudding.

Birken, Gary. Code 15 (Jove $7.99)

Two brothers in her care die. Dr. Morgan Connolly tries to let it go despite her sadness. Then her father is killed in a seemingly random attack and the number of patients dying due to "preventable" errors-a Code 15-begins rising....

Bliss, Miranda. Murder Has a Sweet Touch (Berkley $6.99). Annie Capshaw knows the way to a man's heart is through his cooking class. Just as she and her best friend Eve are planning Annie's wedding day with Jim, her former cooking instructor and current boss, murder takes the cake when Jim's cousin Alex, a ladies man, is suspected of murdering a lovely suburban wife. Recipes.

Brandon, Jay. Running with the Dead ($7.99)


Texas noir by lawyer Brandon blends sexual politics, corruption, in high-school athletics, revenge, and a mysterious stalker in a legal thriller for San Antonio DA Chris Sinclair. She's coping with devious, vicious Malachi Reese, a murderer she put on death row who is petitioning for a new trial claiming the crimes were committed by someone looking just like him, and with a school superintendent she knows is guilty of murder. The overlooked Brandon is an ace writer.

Butcher, Jim. Princep's Fury ($7.99)

In Book Five in the Codex Alera series, we see how Alera and her furies have spent 1,000 years withstanding every enemy. Now the millennium is over and the dreaded Vord has come to Alera.... New in hc: The First Lord's Fury (Ace $26).




Childs, Laura. Eggs Benedict Arnold (Berkley $7.99)

When Cackleberry Café breakfast clubber Suzanne delivers a pie to funeral director Ozzie Driesden, she discovers him not working at the embalming table dead upon it. She barely has time to recognize his corpse before she is drugged with chloroform. There are more suspects than breakfast specials to crack in this case....

Cortez, Donn.CSI: The Killing Jar (Pocket $7.99). A teenager is found dead in his motel room, the cause of death: millipede poison. Crime scene investigator Gil Grissom must aid CSI's Nick Stokes and Riley Adams against a serial killer whose knowledge of entomology rivals his own who is not only using insects as the tools of destruction, but actually modeling the attacks after their behavior. CSI colleagues Catherine Willows and Greg Sanders meanwhile investigate a bizarre death where the victim was entangled with one group using and dealing crystal meth and another an avant-garde group of artists.

Dennison, Hannah. Exposé (Berkley $6.99)

It's snail-racing season in the small town of Gipping-on-Plym. When an early-morning call wakes obituary writer Vicky Hill from the arms of her dream man, an anonymous tipster tells her about the secret funeral of local celebrity Scarlett Fleming-coordinated by her husband, Doug. The entire town is baffled by the sudden death and oddly discreet funeral for flamboyant Scarlett. Vicky's suspicions heighten when she learns of the Flemings' shaky finances-and that Doug has almost as many admirers as Scarlett had enemies. While canvassing suspects and juggling three suitors, Vicky realizes she's writing not an obit but an exposé. A Vicky Hill Exclusive; Scoop ($6.99 each).

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Valley of Fear (Hard Case Crime $7.99)

An interesting presentation of a classic Holmes adventure from pulps publisher Hard Case in its sexy style. A Pinkerton agent from Chicago infiltrates a brutal secret society and winds up mano a mano with...Sherlock Holmes. Try this one on your teen. And the Robert Downey Jr. movie tie-in: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ($4.99), showing Holmes at the height of his powers, a man with powers modeled in part after Dr. Joseph Bell: observation, analysis, and inference.


Fairstein, Linda. Lethal Legacy ($7.99)

Alex Cooper and her team delve into the depths of the New York Public Library and a rarified world of trustees and book collectors (the Manhattan rich on parade) as well as another fascinating historical site, in a search for missing treasures, fraud, and a killer....

Ferris, Monica. Thai Die ($7.99)

One of Needlecrafter Betsy Devonshire's regulars unwittingly becomes involved in a deadly delivery of exotic antiques upon her return from Thailand. It all hinges on a small stone Buddha.... Includes original cross-stitch pattern.

Forman, Steven M. Boca Knights $7.99)

A retired Boston cop moves to Boca Raton, Florida, and brings his unique style of justice to this retirement haven by braking up a Russian crime ring and taking on neo-Nazis in a one-man crusade.





Frazer, Margaret. A Play of Treachery (Berkley $6.99)


At the behest of his puissant patron the Bishop Beaufort, Joliffe journeys to France where he is to enact the role of servant to widowed duchess Jacquetta of Bedford. In actuality he's training in spycraft under the late Duke's spymaster. Then a member of her household is murdered....



Graham, Jo. Black Ships ($7.99)

Nine black ships appear captained by an exiled Trojan prince, forcing Gull-chosen at the age of seven to be the voice of the Lady of the Dead-to accept or reject her role. Excellent history in this fantasy.

Graves, Sarah. A Face at the Window ($7.99)


Three decades ago, Ozzie Campbell murdered Jacobia Tiptree' smother. Now Ozzie is about to stand trial. This suspenseful story revolves around Ozzie's master plan to make Jake recant her testimony....




Green, Simon R. Just Another Judgement Day ($7.99 Dec. 28)


There's a new sheriff in town and he's got the Nightside's rich and powerful quaking in their boots. The Walking Man's mission is to exorcise sinners-with extreme prejudice-in a new, macabre Nightside entertainment for fans of Jim Butcher.




Holt, Hazel. Mrs. Malory and Any Man's Death (Signet $6.99)

Mere Barton busybody Annie Roberts succumbs to mushroom poisoning. Mrs. Malory, as is often true, is the only person to find this suspicious. In Mere Barton because roped into to Annie's local history project, Sheila Malory quickly learns that nosy Annie had flushed out a number of dark secrets the villagers would kill to keep buried....


James, Steven. The Rook (Signet $7.99)


A baffling fire rips through a top-secret naval research facility near San Diego. Special Agent Patrick Bowers' unique ability to pinpoint the time, place, and special factors of a crime tells him that the arsonist had targeted something very specific. Is he, or they, or even she, a firebug-or a terrorist?



Johnson, Susan. Hot Property ($7.99)

To finish up her exposé on art collectors, Zoe Chandler has fled to a secluded lake house. Maybe her muscular neighbor Nick Mirovic could distract her. But he's reclusive too, haunted by his past in the CIA. Then a controversy surrounding her book brings trouble to her door....

O'Connell, Carol. Bone by Bone ($10)

Oren Hobbs quits his career in the Army CID to return home because he believes his father is dying. What he finds is that, 0 years after his younger brother Josh vanished, someone has been leaving human bones on the porch of his father's house and that his father is ready to bury both Josh and the past without further investigation. When the local sheriff is both obtuse and obstructive about the case, Oren reluctantly gets drawn in, stirring up memories for several troubled townspeople of this seemingly idyllic enclave. Oren must also face his own past and present crimes.


Pickens, Cathy. Can't Never Tell ($6.99)


Switch holidays to the Fourth, laser in on Dacus, South Carolina, birthplace of Avery Andrews where the celebration is complete with picnics, fireworks, and a dead body in the carnival's fright house....



Pinter, Jason. The Darkness (Mira $7.99)


A young man is found, his bones crushed nearly to dust before his body was dumped in NY's East River. Henry Parker tackles the crime-the murder of his surprise half-brother-in this his 5th case.





Porkpie, Jonny. The Corpse Wore Pasties (Hard Case Crime $7.99)

A burlesque dancer dies on stage during a show, inspiring its master of ceremonies to delve deep into the seedy and seductive bump-and-grind world the victim worked....

Rankin, Ian. Exit Music ($7.99)


Edinburgh DI John Rebus is at work tying up loose ends before his retirement when a new case lands on his desk: a dissident Russian poet has been murdered. Will Rebus resolve this in the few days remaining of his long and controversial career? Nice title, no?



Stabenow, Dana. Whisper to the Blood ($7.99). A terrific showcase not just for Kate Shugak but for the Park in winter, blows up around a series of attacks on snowmobilers on the Kanuyaq River, the open homicide of Park villain Louis Deems, a gold-mining company hotly buying up land, and some underhanded scheming... Trooper Jim Chopin and the Aunties can't quite steal the show from Kate. Loved it!

Woods, Stuart. Loitering with Intent ($10)


What better place than Key West to unwind? Manhattan lawyer Stone Barrington however is on rewind: looking for someone who doesn't want to be found....





Wright, SL. Confessions of a Demon (Signet $7.99)

After accidentally stealing the life force of a dying demon, Allay, now the only human-demon hybrid on earth, tries to satisfy the demon hunger to feed on human emotions while retaining some humanity by opening a bar.... Opens an urban fantasy series.


Zakour, John/Ganem, Lawrence. The Sapphire Sirens (Daw $7.99)


7th entry in a scifi-pulp fiction series starring Zach Johnson, the world's last freelance detective.

INDIE NEXT JANUARY PREVIEWS

Fforde, Jasper. Shades of Grey ($27 Signed)

Griffiths, Elly. The Crossing Places ($25)

Hall, MR. The Disappeared ($34 Signed; $25 US)

Hunter, Stephen. I, Sniper ($26 Signed Jan. 13)

Kostova, Elizabeth. The Swan Thieves ($27 Signed)

Quinn, Spencer. Thereby Hangs a Tail ($26 Signed)

Todd, Charles. The Red Door ($25 Signed)

Dana Stabenow in Publishers Weekly

Mark your calendars for Dana's upcoming trip to the Phoenix area:

2/16/10 - Dana signs A Night Too Dark (St Martins $25), a new case for Kate Shugak. This is the national Launch Party cohosted by the Arizona Biltmore in another of our literary evenings in the Grand Ballroom. Cash snacks/dessert/coffee bar. Cocktails from the bar around the corner. Free but books to be signed must be purchased from The Poisoned Pen.

Find out the major details here.

New Titles Just In

Burcell, Robin. The Bone Chamber. (Poisoned Pen $25 Signed on Jan 8)

Mysteriously summoned to Quantico to help re-create the face of a murdered, mutilated young woman, FBI forensic artist Special Agent Sydney Fitzpatrick knows immediately this is no ordinary crime. The hit-and-run death of the forensic anthropologist assisting her-a close friend-and Sydney's abrupt dismissal from the case by covert government investigators only strengthen her need for answers. Now her hunt for a killer is carrying her from Washington to Rome to the hidden chamber of a legendary tomb-on the trail of a fabled treasure of the Knights Templar . . . and a curse.

For buried deep in the mysteries of the Freemasons and the Vatican's Holy See is a secret that could rock the world. Suddenly an ancient map is pointing Sydney toward something the Templars wished to hide away forever-something that could unleash an unstoppable tide of blood and devastation.

Garagiola, Joe. Just Play Ball ($22 Signed)

Joe came by and signed some more copies of the wonderful book for us. Sure to make any baseball fan smile, Just Play Ball is chocked full of memories and photos of the beloved sport.

Our fathers remember baseball the way it should be. Colorful characters who played for the love of the game, fresh cut grass, rosin bags, and pine tar remind them what the game is all about. Baseball legend Joe Garagiola's new book, Just Play Ball, is an insightful look at what is right with America' s pastime.

James. P.D. Talking About Detective Fiction (Knopf $22)

In a perfect marriage of author and subject, P. D. James-one of the most widely admired writers of detective fiction at work today-gives us a personal, lively, illuminating exploration of the human appetite for mystery and mayhem, and of those writers who have satisfied it.

P. D. James examines the genre from top to bottom, beginning with the mysteries at the hearts of such novels as Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, and bringing us into the present with such writers as Colin Dexter and Henning Mankell. Along the way she writes about Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie ("arch-breaker of rules"), Josephine Tey, Dashiell Hammett, and Peter Lovesey, among many others. She traces their lives into and out of their fiction, clarifies their individual styles, and gives us indelible portraits of the characters they've created, from Sherlock Holmes to Sara Paretsky's sexually liberated female investigator, V. I. Warshawski. She compares British and American Golden Age mystery writing. She discusses detective fiction as social history, the stylistic components of the genre, her own process of writing, how critics have reacted over the years, and what she sees as a renewal of detective fiction-and of the detective hero-in recent years.

There is perhaps no one who could write about this enduring genre of storytelling with equal authority and flair: it is essential reading for every lover of detective fiction.

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Lacuna( $40 Signed)

This title is #10 this week on the New York Times best seller list

Starred Review From PW, "Kingsolver's ambitious new novel, her first in nine years (after the The Poisonwood Bible), focuses on Harrison William Shepherd, the product of a divorced American father and a Mexican mother. After getting kicked out of his American military academy, Harrison spends his formative years in Mexico in the 1930s in the household of Diego Rivera; his wife, Frida Kahlo; and their houseguest, Leon Trotsky, who is hiding from Soviet assassins. After Trotsky is assassinated, Harrison returns to the U.S., settling down in Asheville, N.C., where he becomes an author of historical potboilers (e.g., Vassals of Majesty) and is later investigated as a possible subversive. Narrated in the form of letters, diary entries and newspaper clippings, the novel takes a while to get going, but once it does, it achieves a rare dramatic power that reaches its emotional peak when Harrison wittily and eloquently defends himself before the House Un-American Activities Committee (on the panel is a young Dick Nixon). Employed by the American imagination, is how one character describes Harrison, a term that could apply equally to Kingsolver as she masterfully resurrects a dark period in American history with the assured hand of a true literary artist. "

And for the chef on your list we have Beautiful copies of Sharing the Table at Garlands Lodge ($35) signed by Amanda Stine; Mary Garland

Amanda and Mary have lovingly created a very personal cookbook full of delightful anecdotes, fascinating historical tidbits, mouth-watering, easily doable recipes, and gorgeous photographs. If you can't get a reservation, it's the next best thing to being there! --Barbara Pool Fenzl, Les Gourmettes Cooking School, author of "Southwest the Beautiful"

Between Mary's beautifully told story and stunning photographs, I could smell the sycamores and hear the tumbling waters of Oak Creek. Amanda Stine's recipes are appealing and clear. --Deborah Madison, author of "Local Flavors" and "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone"

Only a lucky few will ever get to stay at Garland's Lodge. But now, with this collection of Amanda's recipes, anyone can now cook up Lodge favorites for their families and friends. --Katharine Kagel, chef/owner, Cafe Pasqual's, Santa Fe

New Signed Books at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Henry, Sue. The End of the Road ($26 Signed)

New from the multiple award-winning author of The Refuge, whose "grasp of storytelling and strong characterization matches her with Sue Grafton."(Colorado Springs Gazette)

Maxie McNabb and her miniature dachshund, Stretch, are just back from their latest adventure when a murder shatters the quiet in their hometown of Homer, Alaska. Now it's up to Maxie to find the killer-a search that leads her to a place called "the end of the road."

Rendell, Ruth. The Monster in the Box ($43 Signed)

'He had never told anyone. The strange relationship, if it could be called that, had gone on for years, decades, and he had never breathed a word about it. He had kept silent because he knew no one would believe him. None of it could be proved, not the stalking, not the stares or the conspiratorial smiles, not the killings, not any of the signs Targo had made because he knew Wexford knew and could do nothing about it'. Wexford had almost made up his mind that he would never again set eyes on Eric Targo's short, muscular figure. And yet there he was, back in Kingsmarkham, still with that cocky, strutting walk. Years earlier, when Wexford was a young police officer, a woman called Elsie Carroll had been found strangled in her bedroom. Although many still had their suspicions that her husband was guilty, no one was convicted. Another woman was strangled shortly afterwards, and every personal and professional instinct told Wexford that the killer was still at large. And it was Eric Targo. A psychopath who would kill again...As the Chief Inspector investigates a new case, Ruth Rendell looks back to the beginning of Wexford's career, even to his courtship of the woman who would become his wife. The past is a haunted place, with clues and passions that leave an indelible imprint on the here and now.