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Here
are some of the authors that have dropped by in the last couple
of weeks... If you missed them, we still have signed copies. Please
call or e-mail to reserve any!
Jeffery Deaver
Michael Stanley
C. J. Box
Tera Lynn Childs
Dr. Michael Baden
Mark Schweizer
Jilliane Hoffman
Jamie Freveletti
Seth Harwood
Sara Rosett
Go
here for our
Signed Books page.
Saturday,
June 20, 4:30 p.m.
Tera Lynn Childs
Houston
young adult novelist Tera Lynn Childs will sign
& discuss her new YA fantasy/adventure novel, Goddess
Boot Camp (Dutton; $16.99). Phoebe
recently discovered she’s a descendent of Nike (the goddess,
not the shoe), and now she's finding out that supernatural powers
come with a crazy learning curve. Her new stepfather, headmaster
of the Academy for descendants of Greek gods, has enrolled her in
Dynamotheos Development Camp—aka Goddess Boot Camp—with
a bunch of ten-year-olds for the summer. Embarrassing as that is,
hopefully it’ll help her get control of her powers in time
to pass the test of the gods, continue training hard enough to qualify
for the Pythian Games (the only sporting event bigger than the Olympics),
and enjoy her godly boyfriend, Griffin, all while avoiding getting
smoted for accidental misuse of powers. It’s another fast-paced
myth-inspired heroine’s quest that’s sure to bring out
the goddess in anyone.
ALSO
AVAILABLE, the first in the series:
Oh.
My. Gods. (Dutton, $16.99; Speak, $7.99)
If Phoebe Castro can keep her grades up and have another stellar
cross-country season, her dream of attending USC with her best friends
is only a track scholarship away. She’s made all her plans,
so it’s a complete shock when her mom announces she’s
marrying a mysterious stranger and moving them half-way around the
world—to Greece. Phoebe’s
stuck on a secret island in the Aegean attending the super-exclusive
Academy, where her new stepfather is the headmaster and the kids
are anything but your average students—they are descendants
of the Greek gods, super powers included. That’s right, Greek
gods are no myth! If Phoebe thought high school was hard, she knows
this is going to be mortal misery. Securing
that scholarship seems like Phoebe’s only ticket out of Greece,
but training and maintaining her grades will be grueling, even without
a sabotaging stepsister from Hades and a gorgeous guy—what
a god!—who just might be her Achilles heel. One thing is for
sure—summoning the will to win and find her place among the
gods could be Phoebe’s toughest course yet. The
Greek gods get a makeover in this romantic odyssey of mythic proportion.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Monday,
June 22, 6:30 p.m.
Michael Baden
Medical
examiner Michael Baden will sign & discuss
his new crime novel (co-written with wife Linda Kenney Baden),
Skeleton Justice (Knopf; $25.95).
Forensic expert Dr. Michael Baden of the HBO series Autopsy
and trial attorney and legal commentator Linda Kenney Baden bring
us a chilling new thriller featuring their crack crime-fighting
duo: Dr. Jake Rosen, world-famous pathologist, deputy chief medical
examiner, and devoted scientist; and top litigator Manny Manfreda,
who is as lovely (and accessorized) as she is gutsy.
The
case begins with New York City on high alert for a most bizarre
serial killer—a strange kind of thief who stalks his victims
for the purpose of extracting a vial of blood, earning him the tabloid
nickname the Vampire. As the attacks become more and more vicious
and escalate to torture and then to murder, Jake and Manny begin
to suspect there is a connection between the killer’s seemingly
random victims. But what is the link between the Vampire and a case
that Manny’s been working for a kid whose high school prank-gone-wrong
has earned him the moniker the Preppy Terrorist.
View Dr. Baden's full credentials here.
Fans of Kathy Reichs,
Patricia Cornwell, or any forensic thrillers should NOT miss this
event!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Tuesday,
June 23, 6:30 p.m.
Mark Schweizer
One of our store's best-selling authors, Mark Schweizer,
will sign & discuss his 7th liturgical mystery, The
Diva Wore Diamonds (St. James Music Press;
paperback original; $12.95). Detective Hayden Konig has
a great job in the little village of St. Germaine, North Carolina.
He also has a loving wife, a fulfilling avocation as a choir director,
friends, the respect of his peers, a house in the woods, a dog,
a few guns, a 1962 pick-up truck, and more money than he can stuff
into feather-tick mattress. In short, he is living the Appalachian
Dream.
St.
Barnabas Day is reason for celebration! The new, rebuilt church
has risen like an angel food souffle and is playing host to parishioners
and dignitaries alike. But when a time-capsule from 1900 is opened
during the festivities, it throws the whole town into a tither.
Toss in a murder, a Prayer Vigil that goes horribly wrong, the return
of Brother Hog, Bible School terrorists, and a performance of an
unknown Henry Purcell masterpiece, and St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
will never be the same.
Event
will include an interactive mystery from Schweizer! Outguess the
detective, discover the clues hidden in the bookstore, step over
the bodies, unravel the mystery, and laugh to some of the funniest
hard-boiled prose ever concocted. Whether you're a fan or not, (and
you will be!) you won't want to miss this event. Bring a pencil,
your giant brain-pans, and a handkerchief to dry your eyes.
Prizes? -- Of course!
Questions and book signing? -- Of course!
Fun? -- Guaranteed!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Thursday,
June 25, 6:30 p.m.
Jilliane Hoffman
Attorney-turned-bestselling
crime writer Jilliane Hoffman will sign & discuss
her third novel, Plea of Insanity
(Vanguard; $25.95). The prosecutor—Julia Valenciano.
Young and ambitious, and facing a case that could launch her career.
The defendant—David Marquette. A successful Miami surgeon
and devoted family man. The victims—Marquette’s own
wife and three small children. The plea—Not Guilty by Reason
of Insanity. The perfect father and model husband, David
Marquette seemingly just snapped. His experienced defense team claims
paranoid delusions caused by schizophrenia drove him to slaughter
his entire family. But the state suspects Marquette’s insanity
defense is being fabricated to disguise murders that were cold blooded
and calculated. Worse, Julia believes Marquette could be responsible
for a string of unsolved, brutal homicides. Could he be one of the
most prolific and elusive serial killers in the country’s
history? To bring him to justice, Julia must embark on a terrifying
personal journey back into her own past—something she has
struggled to forget for fifteen years. And this will lead her to
confront a future so chilling, she’s not sure she will ever
be able to face it… Plea of Insanity confirms Jilliane Hoffman
as a major thriller writer at the peak of her powers.
Jilliane
Hoffman was an Assistant State Attorney between 1992 and 1996. Until
2001, she was the Regional Legal Advisor for the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement, advising special agents on complex investigations
including narcotics, homicide, and organized crime. Plea of
Insanity is her third novel, following the international bestsellers,
Retribution and Last Witness
(both of which MBTB stocks in U.K.-imported
paperbacks, $15.95 each). She lives in Florida.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Friday,
June 26, 6:30 p.m.
Jamie Freveletti
Debut
author!
Debut
mystery writer Jamie Freveletti will sign &
discuss her first book, Running from the Devil
(Morrow; $24.99). A plane is hijacked and crash-lands outside
Bogotá, Colombia. Emma Caldridge, a biochemist for a cosmetics
company who is on a covert personal mission, is thrown from the
wreckage. Shaken but unhurt, she watches as guerrillas take the
rest of the surviving passengers hostage.
Ripped from the headlines, Running from
the Devil features a female hero that can’t be found
in any thrillers being written today. Like her male thriller-writer
counterparts, Freveletti has created a hero readers will root for—featuring
the athleticism of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher and the brains
of Dr. Temperance Brennan from Kathy Reich’s popular forensic
series. Freveletti explains, “Emma’s not all brain,
not all brawn, but more than able to take care of herself when the
need arises. She’s an average person in unusual circumstances
and utilizes her knowledge of plants and chemical reactions to survive
in the Colombian jungle.”
An elite marathon runner, Emma silently trails
the guerrillas and their captives, using her athletic prowess and
scientific knowledge to stay alive. Those skills become essential
when she discovers an injured passenger, government agent Cameron
Sumner, separated from the group.
As news of the hijacking and kidnapping breaks
in Washington, the Department of Defense turns to Edward Banner
and his military contractors for help finding the hostages, Sumner,
and Emma. But the guerrillas are only the beginning of the danger
for Emma. Banner doesn’t know that Emma holds the key to the
hijacking and carries a volatile biological weapon in an ingenious
disguise, set for auction, by her enemies, to the highest bidder.
Running
from the Devil is a high-octane debut thriller that combines
the intrigue of Daniel Silva with the speculative science adventure
of James Rollins. Moving between Washington’s power corridors
and the jungles of Colombia, filled with compelling characters—including
vicious guerillas, an elite military contractor, an undercover spy,
and a classic femme fatale—saturated with intrigue and authentic
detail, Running from the Devil introduces readers to a
bright new talent who is sure to become a star.
Jamie Freveletti is a competitive runner
who’s scraped Ultramarathoners off paths at mile eighty in
the Colorado snow. A teacher and black belt in the martial art of
Aikido, Freveletti’s earned degrees in law, political science,
and international studies, and is fascinated by the intricate politics
of Colombia, and the rather complicated financial and legal relationships
with the U.S. She’s been a trial attorney representing foreign
and domestic clients from fraud and white-collar crimes, to pharmaceutical,
medical device, and securities violations. A world traveler, Freveletti
currently resides in Chicago with her family.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Saturday,
June 27, 4:30 p.m.
Seth Harwood
Debut author!
Debut crime writer (and podcaster) Seth Harwood
will sign & discuss his novel, Jack Wakes Up
(Three Rivers; paperback original; $13.95). In the three
years since Jack Palms left Hollywood and kicked his drug habit,
he’s added fourteen pounds of muscle, read 83 books, and played
it as straight as anyone could reasonably ask. But the residual
checks are drying up and the ascetic lifestyle’s starting
to wear thin, so Jack’s happy to cash in on his former celebrity
by showing some out-of-town high rollers around San Francisco’s
club scene.
Then people start turning up dead, and Jack
realizes he’s been playing tour guide to a pack of former
KGB agents turned coke dealers. Soon he’s got too many gunmen
after him to count—including a South American drug cartel,
a mountain-sized Samoan enforcer, and a mobbed-up strip club owner
with an army of thugs. Not to mention the gorgeous bartender who
may be planning on shooting him in the back…and the homicide
cop who’s just given Jack 24 hours to bring down the Bay Area’s
biggest drug dealer.
But the thing that scares Jack the most?
He’s starting to enjoy himself.
"Jack Wakes Up rocks! It's
a fast, smooth ride on a highway not found on any map." --
Michael Connelly
Seth also co-runs Crimewav.com,
podcasts of crime short stories by today's best & upcoming writers,
including Megan Abbott, Allan Guthrie, Michael Connelly,
and more.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Monday,
June 29, 6:30 p.m.
Sara Rosett
Mystery
writer Sara Rosett will sign & discuss her
new Ellie Avery novel, Magnolias, Moonlight and Murder
(Kensington; $22). When military wife, mom, and professional
organizer Ellie Avery stumbles across two dead bodies in her new
neighborhood, murder becomes a clear and present danger.
Settling
her family—Air Force pilot Mitch, baby Nathan, and daughter
Livvy,—into their new home in Georgia, Ellie Avery is busier
than ever. With two children under four, a party to plan for Mitch's
promotion, and new contacts to develop for her organizing business,
Ellie's eager to relax by taking Rex, the family Rottweiler, for
a peaceful stroll. But what they find is anything but tranquil.
As evening's shadows fall, Ellie stumbles into an abandoned graveyard
disturbed by flooding from a recent storm. It's a chilling enough
setting without the shocking specter of two dead bodies.... unearthed
from the same grave.
The skeleton that belongs in the washed-out
gravesite is that of a young casualty of World War I. The probable
identity of the fresher corpse leads Ellie into a missing-person
case centered around Jodi Lockworth, a vibrant young woman who once
lived in the house the Averys are now renting. Although Jodi was
a beloved member of the community, her part-time gig as a newspaper
reporter may have put her on the wrong side of a few prominent citizens.
When Ellie discovers a vital clue in her very own home, she becomes
the next target of a sinister schemer who'll stop at nothing to
protect a deadly secret.
Now, with a double mystery brewing and dozens
of guests about to arrive in her back yard, Ellie's agenda is once
again packed. The only thing she hasn't penciled in is one killer
of a party crasher who intends to make this celebration Ellie's
last.
After surviving ten moves as a military spouse,
Sara Rosett decided to use those experiences as background for a
mystery series. The first book, Moving is Murder, was a
Reader’s Choice Award Nominee in 2007 at the Salt Lake County
Library. Sara's essays have also appeared in Chicken Soup for
the Military Wife's Soul. Please visit her website at www.SaraRosett.com.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Thursday,
July 2, 6:30 p.m.
Ridley Pearson
#1 New York Times best-seller Ridley Pearson
will sign & discuss his new Walt Fleming thriller, Killer
Summer (Putnam; $24.95). Sun Valley,
Idaho—playground of the wealthy and politically connected—is
home to an annual wine auction that attracts high rollers from across
the country, and Blaine County Sheriff Walt Fleming is the one who
must ensure it goes off without a hitch. The world's most elite
wine connoisseurs have descended on Sun Valley to taste and bid
on the world's best wines, including three bottles claimed to have
been a gift from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. With sky-high prices
all but guaranteed for these historic items, it's no wonder a group
of thieves is out to steal them. Walt is responsible for all aspects
of the glitzy event, from security of the dignitaries to the physical
safety of the auction site to the transportation and safeguard of
the wines themselves.
Walt is enjoying a rare afternoon of freedom,
fly-fishing with his nephew, Kevin, when a passing truck catches
his eye— his suspicions throwing him headlong into the discovery
of a complicated plan to steal the rare wine. When a bomb detonates
just as the auction revs up, the investigation explodes as well,
pulling Walt in a dozen different directions. It seems Walt is caught
in the middle of a heist of epic proportions—and not the heist
he had prepared for—all orchestrated by the ingenious mind
of Christopher Cantell, a man who appears to have covered everything,
including the way Walt's own sheriff's office will react.
Event will include a PowerPoint
presentation and
a drawing for those who attend... prizes include a pearl necklace,
brought by Ridley all the way from China! Ridley will discuss rare
wine (something he knows nothing about, first-hand -- he doesn't
drink!) and its role in Killer Summer and will give us a brief glimpse
into his past year in China.
Ridley
Pearson on Killer Summer...
"Every year the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities
(Sun Valley, Idaho) throws a fund-raising wine auction that attracts
the well-heeled from around the world to bid up wine bottles into
the stratosphere, all for a good cause. As patrons grow more and
more 'cheerful' with the free wine at the dinner, the prices soar,
as do the egos of those bidding. It's a sight to behold. I've always
wanted to write about the event. That backdrop ran headlong into
some research I stumbled upon. I'm a Google freak, and when I discovered
that some bottles from Thomas Jefferson's wine collection had sold
for over 600,000 dollars, I knew I'd landed on my next thriller.
"Killer Summer, is, at it's
heart, written in the tradition of the great heist movies, like
the Thomas Crown Affair, The Italian Job and the
Ocean series. I love heist stories that twist and then
twist again, and again, and keep you guessing, and I hope that's
what I've accomplished in Killer Summer. It's certainly
what I've tried to do. Having lived off and on in the Sun Valley
area for thirty years now (can it be?) I have what I hope is a real
insight to the lives and motivations of the residents and visitors,
resources in the form of the real life sheriff (Walt Femling, the
Blaine County Sheriff), and first person experience in the backcountry,
the restaurants, bars, and backstreets. I hope I've brought the
area alive for readers and that a book like Killer Summer
delivers on several levels. It's intended to be "a thrill ride,"
but if you feel a little drunk and happy along the way, so much
the better."
Ridley Pearson, Shanghai,
China, June 2009
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Monday,
July 6, 6:30 p.m.
Eric Stone
Crime
writer / photojournalist Eric Stone will sign &
discuss his new novel, Shanghaied
(Bleak House; hardback, $24.95; paperback, $14.95; Evidence Collection
limited edition, $45). Carnivorous Tibetan monks are worried
about what a Chinese bank is doing with their money. A murderous,
sociopathic veteran of the U.S. invasion of Grenada, along with
his well-dressed, twin kung-fu bodyguards, Floss and Betty, are
more than just a little threatening. A painful dumpling accident,
drugs, sex and rock and roll, crowd-surfing, ash scattering, heroin
injecting, business moguls, hookers, friends and foes. And the return
of Ray’s Chinese-Mexican colleague and pal, the diminutive
Ms. Wen Lei Yue.
"Whatever
Stone is smoking, I want some. This is bizarre but believable, tough
but tender, and fast but considered. Highly recommended."—Lee
Child
"Like Ray Sharp, Stone breaks all the rules and gets away with
it. There's nothing normal about this book yet it's the abnormal
that makes it sensational."—Colin Cotterill, author of
the Dr. Siri novels
"Stone puts real people square in the
middle of a steamy, photographically real Asia, and turns up the
velocity all the way to THRILL. I enjoyed every moment."—Timothy
Hallinan, author of The Fourth Watcher

ABOUT THE EVENT:
Shanghaied opens in Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, during the spectacular
ceremonies celebrating the return of the former British colony to
China. The action moves to Shanghai, during a time of tremendous
change, development and turmoil. Eric Stone, who worked as a writer
and photojournalist in the region during that time, will present
a slide show of Hong Kong and Shanghai (examples shown above) to
give a stunning visual tour of the themes and the story in his new
book, and in his Ray Sharp series of detective thrillers. Some very
peculiar, good, interesting, fun Chinese pop music will also be
played.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Tuesday,
July 7, 6:30 p.m.
Joe R. Lansdale
Edgar Award-winning Texas crime writer Joe R. Lansdale
(The Bottoms) will sign & discuss his two new books:
Vanilla Ride and Sanctified
and Chicken Fried.
In
Vanilla Ride (Knopf; $23.95), Hap Collins
and Leonard Pine (Mucho Mojo)—best friends, freelance
troublemakers, and tough guys with good intentions—find themselves
in the crosshairs of the Dixie Mafia.
Hap is an East Texas smart mouth with a weakness
for southern women. Leonard is a gay, black Vietnam vet. They’re
not the makings for your typical dynamic duo, but never underestimate
the power of a shared affinity for stirring up trouble and general
mayhem. So when an old friend asks Leonard to rescue his daughter
from an abusive no-good drug dealer, he gladly agrees and, of course,
invites Hap along for the fun. Well, the dealer may be lowly, but
he is on the bottom rung of the Dixie Mafia, and when Hap and Leonard
come calling, the Mafia feels a little payback is in order. Cars
crash, shotguns blast, and people die, but Hap and Leonard come
out on top. Unfortunately for them, now they’re facing not
only jail time but also the legendary—and lethal—Vanilla
Ride, who is still out to claim the price on their heads.
Full of twists and turns, gunfire and gaffes,
this hilarious, rip-roaring novel will have readers turning the
pages faster than a Texas tornado.
Highly recommended by David!
Hap & Leonard are back!!
Sanctified
and Chicken-Fried: The Portable Lansdale (foreword
by Bill Crider; Univ. of Texas; $29.95) Reprinted and original
stories. 212 pages. First printing,
1,550 copies! Master of mojo storytelling,
spinner of over-the-top yarns of horror, suspense, humor, mystery,
science fiction, and even the Old West, Joe R. Lansdale has attracted
a wide and enthusiastic following. His genre-defying work has brought
him numerous awards, including the Grand Master of Horror from the
World Horror Convention, the Edgar Award, the American Horror Award,
seven Bram Stoker awards, the British Fantasy Award, Italy's Grinzane
Prize for Literature, as well as Notable Book of the Year recognition
twice from the New York Times.
Sanctified and Chicken-Fried is
the first "true best of Lansdale" anthology. It brings
together a unique mix of well-known short stories and excerpts from
his acclaimed novels, along with new and previously unpublished
material. In this collection of gothic tales that explore the dark
and sometimes darkly humorous side of life and death, you'll meet
traveling preachers with sinister agendas, towns lost to time, teenagers
out for a good time who get more than they bargain for, and gangsters
and strange goings-on at the end of the world. Out of the blender
of Lansdale's imagination spew tall tales about men and mules, hogs
and races, that are, in his words, "the equivalent of Aesop
meets Flannery O'Connor on a date with William Faulkner, the events
recorded by James M. Cain."
Whether you're a long-time fan of Joe R.
Lansdale or just discovering his work, this anthology brings you
the best of a writer whom the New York Times Book Review
has praised for having "a folklorist's eye for telling detail
and a front-porch raconteur's sense of pace."
Read the Dallas
Morning News
review of Sanctified & Chicken Fried.
Bill Crider, who wrote the
foreword, will also be on hand at the signing!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Thursday,
July 9, 6:30 p.m.
Brad Thor
Best-selling thriller writer Brad Thor will sign
& discuss his new Scot Harvath novel, The Apostle
(Atria; $26.95). A new administration and a new approach
to dealing with America’s enemies have left covert counterterrorism
operative Scot Harvath without a job. But when American doctor Julia
Gallo is kidnapped in Afghanistan, the terms of her ransom leave
the president with only one course of action.
In
a dangerous assignment that the United States government will deny
any knowledge of, Scot Harvath must secretly infiltrate Kabul’s
notorious Policharki Prison and free the man the kidnappers demand
as ransom -- al-Qaeda mastermind, Mustafa Khan.
But when Harvath arrives, he quickly learns
that there is more to the kidnapping than anyone dares to admit.
And as the subterfuge is laid bare, Harvath must examine his own
career of hunting down and killing terrorists, and ask himself if
he has what it takes to help one of the world’s worst go free.
Brimming with the kind of ripped-from-the-headlines
authenticity Brad Thor’s internationally best-selling novels
are known for, The Apostle doubles down on the blockbuster
success of The Last Patriot and reaffirms Thor’s
status as the master of the political thriller.
David highly recommends Brad Thor! For
fans of Lee Child, Vince Flynn, and the TV show 24!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Friday,
July 10, 6:00 p.m.
Rhys Bowen
Historical mystery writer Rhys Bowen will sign
& discuss her new Lady Georgiana novel, Royal Flush
(Berkley Prime Crime; $24.95). A Royal Spyness mystery
starring Lady Georgiana, thirty-fourth in line for the throne—and
the mystery world's favorite penniless heiress. With its posh clientele
in the country for the summer, Georgie's housecleaning business
has fizzled. So she tries hiring herself out as a dinnerand- theatre
companion. But her first client has quite the wrong idea. To avoid
further scandal, Georgie's shipped home to Castle Rannoch, where
her summer plans include honoring a promise to Her Majesty to keep
Castle Rannoch's divorcée houseguest from seducing the Prince
of Wales. She's also been coerced into helping Scotland Yard with
a top-secret mission—namely keeping an eye on the shooting
party at Balmoral and preventing someone from shooting the Prince.
And Georgie must manage all this without strangling her odious sister-in-law
Fig or spineless brother Binky.
Highly recommended by nearly every MBTB
employee!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Saturday,
July 11, 4:30 p.m.
Colleen Thompson
Christie Craig
T. J. Bennett
Kerrilyn
Sparks
More details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Monday,
July 13, 6:30 p.m.
David
Liss
Edgar Award-winning historical crime writer David Liss
(A Conspiracy of Paper) will sign & discuss his new
Benjamin Weaver novel, The Devil's Company
(Random House; $25). With
The Whiskey Rebels, David Liss added to the rapidly growing
audience for his extraordinary brand of historical suspense fiction.
His unforgettable tale of spies and conspiracies in post-Revolutionary
War America was a "gripping, visceral adventure," according
to New York Times bestselling author Matthew Pearl. Now
Liss delivers another riveting historical suspense tale —
this one set in 1700s London.
When Benjamin Weaver (A Conspiracy of
Paper; A Spectacle of Corruption) is blackmailed into
stealing documents from the ruthless British East India Company,
he soon discovers the theft of trade secrets is only the first move
in a daring conspiracy within the eighteenth century's most powerful
corporation. To save his friends and family, Weaver must infiltrate
the Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret
plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies, and government operatives.
With the security of the nation in the balance, Weaver will find
himself in a labyrinth of hidden agendas, daring enemies, and unexpected
allies.
With explosive action and scrupulous period
research, The Devil's Company depicts the birth of the
modern corporation, and is Liss's most impressive achievement yet.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Tuesday,
July 14, 6:30 p.m.
David Morrell / James Rollins
Best-selling
thriller writers David Morrell & James
Rollins will sign & discuss their new books at a special
event.
Best-seller David Morrell (First
Blood) will sign his new thriller, The Shimmer
(Vanguard; $25.95). Creator
of Rambo and co-founder of the International Thriller Writers organization,
David Morrell has been called “the father
of the modern action novel.” Now this award-winning, New
York Times bestselling author delivers The Shimmer,
a novel of chilling impact.
When
police officer Dan Page’s wife disappears, her trail leads
to Rostov, a remote Texas town where unexplained phenomena attract
hundreds of spectators each night. Not merely curious, these onlookers
are compelled to reach this tiny community and gaze at the mysterious
Rostov Lights.
But more than the faithful are drawn there.
A gunman begins shooting at the lights, screaming “Go back
to hell where you came from!” then turns his rifle on the
innocent bystanders. As more and more people are drawn to the scene
of the massacre, the stage is set for even greater bloodshed.
To save his wife, Page must solve the mystery
of the Rostov Lights. In the process, he uncovers a deadly government
secret dating back to the First World War. The lights are more dangerous
than anyone ever imagined, but even more deadly are those who try
to exploit forces beyond their control.
With The Shimmer, David Morrell
takes readers on a brilliant, terrifying journey. Suspenseful, yet
thought-provoking, it is the master at his best.
“David Morrell’s The Shimmer
showcases a master storyteller at his finest. Mysterious lights,
an isolated research facility, and a cast of characters as real
as your next-door neighbors elevate this techno-thriller into a
masterpiece of suspense, intrigue, and terror. Once cracked open,
the book demands to be read in one sitting.” —James
Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Last
Oracle
And
speaking of James Rollins...
Best-seller James Rollins
will sign both his new Sigma Force thriller, The Doomsday
Key (Morrow; $27.99), and his first
young adult thriller, Jake Ransom & the Skull King's
Shadow (Harper; $16.99).
The
Doomsday Key finds Sigma Force—an elite
and covert arm of the Department of Defense’s DARPA unit—
embroiled in a centuries-old secret, one coded in prophecies of
doom.
Three murders on three continents bear horrifying
resemblances: At Princeton University, a famed geneticist dies inside
a biohazard lab. In Rome, a Vatican archaeologist is found dead
in the heart of St. Peter’s Basilica. In Africa, a US Senator’s
son is slain within a Red Cross camp in Ghana. All three deaths
are marked by a fiery symbol burned into their flesh: a Druidic
pagan cross.
The bizarre murders thrust Commander Gray
Pierce and Sigma Force into a global hunt for a powerful group of
industrialists who have a stranglehold on the world’s food
supply. Aided by two women from his past, Gray flees a trio of high-tech
assassins as he pieces together the clues. The commander must make
a brutal choice: to save the world, he must sacrifice one of the
two women at his side. Yet even that price might not be enough,
for he knows the only true path to salvation lies within The
Doomsday Key.
With The Doomsday Key Rollins explores
how overpopulation and the diminishing food supply have spurred
scientists to create genetically modified crops to deal with the
problem of feeding the hungry. But as with every Sigma Force thriller,
Rollins contemplates how this advancement of technology—if
used by the wrong people—could lead to catastrophic destruction
of society as we know it. And in the hands of this gifted writer,
not only are readers captivated with relentless action, rich historical
detail and gripping scientific drama, but also left with a telling
message about the consequences of man’s actions on the world.
Rollins' background
in evolutionary biology and doctorate in veterinary medicine allow
him to include many scientific details in his pulse-pounding plots
for his Sigma Force novels. Please take a minute to watch
real-life swashbuckler James Rollins talk about how his adventure
seeking (getting stuck in a cave crevice for hours!) and scientific
background influence his writing.
Jake
Ransom & the Skull King's Shadow:
When a mysterious envelope arrives for Jake Ransom,
he and his older sister, Kady are plunged into a gripping chain
of events. An artifact found by their parents—on the expedition
from which they never returned—leads Jake and Kady to a strange
world inhabited by a peculiar mix of long-lost civilizations, a
world that may hold the key to their parents' disappearance.
But even as they enter the gate to this extraordinary
place, savage grackyls soar across the sky, diving to attack. Jake's
new friends, the pretty Mayan girl Marika and the Roman Pindor,
say the grackyls were created by an evil alchemist—the Skull
King. And as Jake stuggles to find a way home, it becomes obvious
that what the Skull King wants most is Jake and Kady—dead
or alive.
James Rollins brings all the twists and chills
he's famous for to this breathlessly paced adventure—his first
book about Jake Ransom. Fans of Indiana Jones, Alex Rider, and Maximum
Ride will flock to this explosively entertaining adventure.
Highly recommended by Michelle
& David!
James
Rollins will stick around in Houston to speak at the Houston Public
Library (500 McKinney), Wednesday, July 15,
noon. Please go here
for more information.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Wednesday,
July 15, 6:30 p.m.
Megan Abbott
/ Theresa Schwegel
Edgar Award-winning crime writers Megan Abbott
& Theresa Schwegel will sign & discuss
their new novels.
2008
Edgar Award winner Megan Abbott will sign her 4th
novel, Bury Me Deep
(Simon & Schuster; paperback original; $15). Bury Me
Deep is loosely inspired by a famous crime that scandalized the
country. In October 1931, a railroad employee at the Southern Pacific
Train Station in downtown Los Angeles noticed something leaking
from a passenger trunk. Inside, he found the bodies of two young
women. The trunk's owner was a young doctor's wife, Winnie Ruth
Judd, en route from Phoenix. The two women were her best friends.
A media sensation, the case captivated the
country, with tabloids dubbing Mrs. Judd the "Velvet Tigress,"
the "Blonde Butcher" and, most famously, "The Trunk
Murderess." To many, the case appeared open and shut. But the
truth, as always, is far more complicated.
"Word for word, pound for pound, Megan
Abbott delivers more than any writer I know. Her influences appear
to range from Hollywood Babylon to Theodore Dreiser, but her work
transcends pastiche and homage. Bury Me Deep extends an
already jaw-dropping winning streak, showcasing Abbott's gorgeous
prose and clear-eyed empathy. She is simply one of the most exciting
and original voices of her generation."—Laura Lippman
2007
Edgar Award winner Theresa Schwegel will sign Last
Known Address (St. Martin's Minotaur; $24.95).
Chicago Detective Sloane Pearson is still new to the Sex Crimes
Division, but she’s tired of being treated like the new girl
by the guys who’ve been around. She’s tracking a rapist
who strangles women nearly to death, usually on deserted building
sites and in vacant apartments, which are peppered all over downtown
Chicago. The baffling case intensifies when one of the victims turns
out to be Sloane’s realtor, making the investigation more
personal than ever.
To
make matters worse, Sloane’s father’s failing health
is a major distraction, and when he takes a turn for the worse,
she throws herself into the chase. But it’s getting harder;
one by one the rape victims become reluctant to relive their horrors
in court, and her bosses threaten to shut down the investigation
altogether. Then when an impromptu sting puts Sloane herself in
danger, even her partner backs away from the case. But she refuses
to give up. Racing from the worst slums of Chicago’s west
side to the glittering Loop skyscrapers, Sloane tries to catch a
predator before it’s too late.
Theresa Schwegel was born and raised in the
Chicago area where she received her bachelor's degree in Communications
from Loyola University. In 1998, she moved to southern California
and gained her Masters in Film/Screenwriting at Chapman University.
While working on her second degree, Theresa rewrote her thesis screenplay
Officer Down as a novel. Three years later, Officer Down
went on to win the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel,
beating Megan Abbott's Die a Little. Probable Cause,
Theresa's second book, was a New York Times' Editor's Choice.
Her third, Person of Interest, was a 2007 Publishers
Weekly top ten mystery. In 2008, she received the Chicago Public
Library's 21st Century Award.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Thursday,
July 23, 6:30 p.m.
Jeff Abbott
Internationally
best-selling Austin crime writer Jeff Abbott
will sign & discuss his new thriller, Trust Me
(Dutton; $25.95). Luke Dantry tells people he has a job
on the cutting edge of the war on terror—only he knows it’s
nowhere near as adrenaline-filled as he makes it sound. Luke’s
nightly task working for his stepfather’s Washington think
tank: Go undercover from the anonymous safety of his computer and
infiltrate Web-based, home-grown terrorist networks, cataloging
the screen names and details of a motley collection of rage-filled,
mentally suspect, and mostly impotent loners he comes to call the
Black Road. Now and then he encounters someone who may have the
capability to make good on his threats, but Luke figures that the
vast majority of his targets are simply frustrated malcontents using
the Internet as an empty soapbox.
When Luke is kidnapped at gunpoint, without
warning, and left for dead in an isolated cabin deep in the woods,
he realizes it must be related to his work, and that the Black Road
is far more organized than he thought—and much closer to home
than he could have ever imagined. After a daring escape, with both
the terrorist group and their enemies on his heels, he must quickly
assemble a complex puzzle of convoluted histories and motives, where
the final pieces extend deep into his own past—and where Luke
himself may hold the key to stopping the Black Road before their
spectacular plans come to horrible fruition.
Jeff
Abbott is the internationally best-selling, award-winning author
of ten mystery and suspense novels. Jeff's novels have been called
"exciting, shrewd, and beautifully crafted" (Chicago
Tribune), "fresh, original... intricately woven"
(Publishers Weekly), "nail-bitingly suspenseful and
totally original" (Irish Independent) and "excellent"
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel). He is published in twenty
languages and has been a bestseller in the US, the UK, Ireland,
France, Germany, Australia, Portugal, and other countries.
Jeff is a three-time nominee for the Mystery
Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award and a two-time nominee
for the Anthony Award, given at Bouchercon (aka the World Mystery
Conference.) His novel Panic was also been nominated for
Best Novel for the Thriller Award. All of Jeff's Whit Mosley suspense
novels have been honored with nominations for major writing awards:
A Kiss Gone Bad was short-listed for the Anthony Award;
Black Jack Point was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony,
and Barry Awards; and Cut and Run was nominated for the
Edgar Award. Jeff's first novel, Do Unto Others, won both
the Agatha Award and the Macavity Award for Best First Novel. His
other books include The Only Good Yankee, Promises
of Home, and Distant Blood.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Sunday,
July 26, 2:00 p.m.
Daniel Silva
#1 best-selling thriller writer Daniel Silva will
sign & discuss his new Gabriel Allon novel, The
Defector (Putnam; $26.95).
Over the course of a
brilliant career, Daniel Silva has established himself as the “gold
standard” of thriller writers (Dallas Morning News),
a “master writer of espionage and intrigue” (The
Cincinnati Enquirer), and the creator of “some of the
most exciting spy fiction since Ian Fleming put down his martini
and invented James Bond” (Rocky Mountain News). Now
Silva takes that fiction—and his hero, the enigmatic art restorer
and assassin Gabriel Allon—to a whole new level, delivering
a riveting tale of vengeance that entertains as well as enlightens.
Six
months after the dramatic conclusion of Moscow Rules, Gabriel
has returned to the tan hills of Umbria to resume his honeymoon
with his new wife, Chiara, and restore a seventeenth-century altarpiece
for the Vatican. But his idyllic world is once again thrown into
turmoil with shocking news from London. The defector and former
Russian intelligence officer Grigori Bulganov, who saved Gabriel’s
life in Moscow, has vanished without a trace. British intelligence
is sure he was a double agent all along, but Gabriel knows better.
He also knows he made a promise.
Do you know what we do with traitors, Gabriel?
Many things have changed in Russia since the fall of Communism.
But the punishment for betrayal remains the same. Promise me one
thing, Gabriel. Promise me I won’t end up in an unmarked grave.
In the days to come, Gabriel and his team
of operatives will find themselves in a deadly duel of nerve and
wits with one of the world’s most ruthless men: the murderous
Russian oligarch and arms dealer Ivan Kharkov. It will take him
from a quiet mews in London, to the shores of Lake Como, to the
glittering streets of Geneva and Zurich, and, finally, to a heart-stopping
climax in the snowbound birch forests of Russia. Faced with the
prospect of losing the one thing he holds most dear, Gabriel will
be tested in ways he never imagined possible. And his life will
never be the same.
Filled with breathtaking turns of plot and
sophisticated prose, and populated by a remarkable cast of characters,
The Defector is more than the most explosive thriller of
the year. It is a searing tale of love, vengeance and courage created
by the writer whom the critics call “the perfect guide to
the dangerous forces shaping our world” (Orlando Sentinel).
And it is Daniel Silva’s finest novel yet.
Highly recommended by McKenna,
Michelle & Terry!
Read an interview with Daniel Silva here.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
July
28 & 29, two events
Steve
Hockensmith
Edgar Award-nominated
mystery writer Steve Hockensmith (Holmes on
the Range) will sign & discuss his new Old Red & Big
Red whodunit, The Crack in the Lens (St.
Martin's Minotaur; $24.95), at two events, one at the store
& one at the Houston Public Library.
Event
#1: Tuesday, July 28, 7:00 p.m., at the Houston
Public Library, Central Branch (500 McKinney). Free
& open to the public. Book sales provided by Murder By The Book.
At the library event, Edgar-nominated author Steve Hockensmith discusses
his newest novel, the Texas-set mystery The Crack in the Lens,
with a focus on the ups and downs of a writing career and tips for
those crazy enough to try one themselves. In a talk he calls "Anything
I Can Do, You Can Do Better: A Step-by-Step Guide to Being a More
Successful Writer Than Me," Hockensmith will share his hard-won
wisdom on crafting a marketable manuscript, landing an agent, making
contacts in the publishing world, and staying motivated when the
going gets tough.
Event
#2: Wednesday, July 29, 6:30 p.m., at Murder By The Book.
The
Crack in the Lens (St. Martin's Minotaur;
$24.95)... It's late 1893, and things finally seem to be
going right for Otto "Big Red" Amlingmeyer and his brother
Gustav (a.k.a. "Old Red"). After years of hard knocks,
Big Red's started selling stories about their adventures as would-be
detectives following in the footsteps of their hero: Sherlock Holmes.
Which means for once Big Red and Old Red have a bit of money in
their pockets and time on their hands. So why is Old Red so edgy?
Because he's got unfinished business, that's why. And he reckons
now's the time to finish it. Five years before, when Old Red was
a cowhand in San Marcos, Texas, he had a sweetheart
-- a "soiled dove" at the local house of ill repute. But
before they could run off together and get married, the girl was
brutally murdered, and the local law swept the case under the rug.
Now, Old Red hopes he's got the "deducifyin'" know-how
to find out what really happened and bring the killer to justice.
But even the great Sherlock Holmes never had to face anything like
this. Big Red and Old Red soon find themselves in the middle of
a riot at the local cathouse, on the wrong end of a lynching party
and forced to commit the greatest crime a man can in the state of
Texas : steal horses. Eventually, however, they uncover a bizarre
link to one of the world's most infamous madmen -- just as Old Red
seems to be coming apart under the strain of his quest for vengeance.
It's enough to make his brother wonder: Will Old Red crack the case...or
crack up himself?
Highly recommended by
David!
"...Hockensmith's excellent fourth mystery to feature Otto
"Big Red" Amlingmeyer and his older brother, Gustav (a.k.a.
"Old Red"), takes them to San Marcos, Tex....The personal
stake Old Red has in catching the murderer adds an emotional dimension
to the puzzle, which Edgar-finalist Hockensmith nicely leavens with
witty prose and cliffhanging chapter endings." -- Publishers
Weekly (starred review)
"...a suitably Holmes-ian investigation that is seasoned with
a goodly serving of laughs." -- Texas Monthly
"Other books and TV series have featured genre-melding cowboys
armed with ratiocination as well as revolvers, but Hockensmith's
take is quite special. There's his combination of intriguing mystery,
breathless action, colorful characters and enough laugh-out-loud
moments for the books to fit in the humorous crime category."
-- Dick Lochte, The Los Angeles Times
"As a lively Holmes take-off, as an inventive melding of mystery
and Western genres, and as a new source of damn good reading, this
series demands attention." -- Booklist
Steve Hockensmith is the creator of mystery-solving
cowboys Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer. The Sherlock Holmes-worshipping
brothers first appeared in the pages of Ellery Queen Mystery
Magazine before graduating to their own book series in 2006.
Their (and Hockensmith's) debut novel, Holmes on the Range,
was nominated for the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony and Dilys Awards. The
fourth book in the series, The Crack in the Lens, brings
the Amlingmeyers to Texas to find the man who brutally murdered
Old Red's sweetheart years before. Hockensmith is also a prolific
short story writer, appearing regularly in Ellery Queen and Alfred
Hitchcock Mystery Magazine as well as anthologies such as the recently
released Sherlock Holmes in America. His story "Erie's Last
Day" won the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Derringer Award
and was later reprinted in Best American Mystery Stories 2001. Hockensmith
lives in Alameda, Calif., and blogs (sporadically, he admits) at
www.stevehockensmith.com
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Saturday,
August 1, 4:30 p.m.
Jack Kerley
The
best-selling author of The Hundredth Man and Blood
Brother will sign & discuss his new Carson Ryder thriller,
In the Blood (U.K. import; paperback
original; $15.95). We'll
be the only store in Houston stocking this title!
Carson Ryder is a detective with a unique
perspective on serial killers -- his brother's one. TV evangelist
Reverend Scaler made his fortune from firebrand rhetoric on the
sins of modern America. But Scaler has preached his last sermon
after being bound and beaten to death in an apparent S&M session.
Detective Carson Ryder has his own problems. He's edgy and unpredictable,
the crime scene barely seeming to affect him any more than finding
an infant abandoned in a boat -- nearby, a burnt-out shack, a body
and signs of a struggle. Scaler's tangled personal life reveals
bizarre connections between the cases. And it seems the baby fighting
for its life in hospital has powerful enemies. Ryder can't seem
to save himself -- but can he save the life of an innocent child?
David
highly recommends this serial-killer series! For fans of Thomas
Harris and John Sandford!
Jack Kerley worked in advertising for over
twenty years. Challenged by his wife to “quit your job and
write that book you’re always threatening to write,”
he left the nine-to-five to teach himself how to write a novel.
In 2003 his debut novel, The Hundredth Man, was published.
This was followed by The Death Collectors, A Garden of Vipers
(U.K. title: The Broken Souls) and Blood Brother,
all part of a series generally set in Mobile, Alabama, and featuring
Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus, detectives with the Mobile Police
Department. Though his work didn’t reach a wide audience in
the US, Kerley’s books have been published in eleven languages
and over twenty countries.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Saturday,
August 8, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.,
at Alliance Francaise
David Rosenfelt
Best-selling
mystery writer David Rosenfelt will sign &
discuss his new Andy Carpenter novel, New Tricks
(Grand Central; $24.99), at Alliance Francaise
(427 Lovett). Book sales provided by Murder By The
Book.
David Rosenfelt and his wife founded
the Tara Foundation,
rescuing over 4,000 dogs in California. They themselves have nearly
40 dogs at home, mainly those too ill to be adopted. Want to see
how amazing David is (and learn a little about the new book)? Go
here,
especially if you're a dog lover!
10% of MBTB's sales of New
Tricks will be donated to Golden
Beginnings Golden Retriever Rescue.
In a starred review, Publishers
Weekly says: " In Rosenfelt’s excellent
seventh legal thriller to feature Paterson, N.J., defense attorney
Andy Carpenter (after Play Dead), Andy takes on another
canine client—Waggy, a Bernese mountain puppy, who’s
somehow connected to the murder of Walter Timmerman.... Rosenfelt
injects this clever installment with courtroom twists, a peek into
some scary DNA research and a romantic surprise."
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Thursday,
August 13, 6:30 p.m.
Linwood Barclay
More details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Friday,
August 14, 6:30 p.m.
Kat Richardson
Best-selling
paranormal mystery writer Kat Richardson (Greywalker)
will sign & discuss her new Harper Blaine novel, Vanished
(Ace; $23.95). Harper Blaine was your average small-time
P.I. until she died—for two minutes. Now Harper is a Greywalker—walking
the line between the living world and the paranormal realm. And
she's discovering that her new abilities are landing her in all
sorts of "strange cases."
But for Harper, her own case may prove the
most difficult to solve. Why did she—as opposed to others
with near-death experiences—become a Greywalker? When Harper
digs into her own past, she unearths some unpleasant truths about
her father's early death as well as a mysterious puzzle. Forced
by some very demanding vampires to take on an investigation in London,
she soon discovers her present troubles in England are entangled
with her dark past back in Seattle—and her ultimate destiny
as a Greywalker.
Highly recommended by Anne, Terry, Dean,
and David!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Wednesday,
August 26, 6:30 p.m.
Kathryn Casey
More details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Monday,
August 31, 6:30 p.m.
Kathy Reichs
More details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Tuesday,
September 1, 6:30 p.m.
Gerald Elias
Utah
Symphony Concertmaster Gerald Elias will sign &
discuss his debut mystery, Devil's Trill
(St. Martin's Minotaur; $25.99). Greed, lust, power, and
murder are words not commonly associated with the world of classical
music, yet they are elements in Devil's Trill, an evocative
debut mystery about the theft a priceless violin and the renowned
blind violin master who has to clear his own name.
Event includes a performance of the Devil's
Trill sonata by Elias!
Daniel
Jacobus is a blind, reclusive, vulgar violin teacher living in self-imposed
exile in rural New England. He spends his time chain smoking, listening
to old LPs, and berating students in the hope that they will flee.
Jacobus, however, is inexorably drawn back into the world he left
behind when decides to attend the Grimsley Competition at Carnegie
Hall, run by the ruthless Musical Arts Project, or MAP. The winner
of this competition is granted the honor of playing the ‘Piccolino’
Stradivarius, a uniquely dazzling three-quarter size violin that
has brought misfortune to all who possessed it over the centuries.
Nine-year-old Kamryn Vander wins the competition, but before she
can get an opportunity to play the priceless violin, it is stolen
with Jacobus at the scene of the crime. Then haughty Victoria Jablonski,
Vander’s teacher and Jacobus’s nemesis, is brutally
murdered and once again Jacobus becomes the primary suspect. With
the help of his friend and former musical partner Nathaniel Williams,
and his new student, Yumi Shinagawa, Jacobus sets out to rid the
world of MAP, retrieve the ‘Piccolino,’ and prove his
innocence against all odds.
Hailed as a “complex and intriguing
game of cat-and-mouse, as multi layered and evocative as a well-played
Tartini sonata” by Shamus Award-winning author Louise Ure,
Devil's Trill is an elegant, compulsively readable mystery
that offers something for everyone.
A graduate of Yale, Gerald Elias has been
a Boston Symphony violinist, Associate Concertmaster of the Utah
Symphony since 1988, Adjunct Professor of Music at the University
of Utah, first violinist of the Abramyan String Quartet, and Music
Director of the Vivaldi Candlelight concert series.
Highly recommended by McKenna!
“If one in a hundred writers could
play music as well as Gerald Elias writes, what a harmonious world
we would have!”—S.J. Rozan, Edgar-winning author of
The Shanghai Moon
“Evocative and engrossing… will
appeal equally to mystery lovers and music lovers.”—Charles
Finch, author of A Beautiful Blue Death
“A true insider’s view of a fascinating
world.”—John Williams, conductor and composer
Read an interview with Gerald
Elias here.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Wednesday,
September 2, 6:30 p.m.
Kimberly Frost
The Houston author of Would-Be Witch sign
& discuss the sequel, Barely Bewitched
(Berkley; paperback original; $14). Welcome to Duvall,
Texas, where Tammy Jo Trask has just unleashed an accidental Armageddon.
Tammy Jo’s misfiring magic has attracted
the unwanted attention of WAM, the World Association of Magic. Now,
a wand-wielding wizard and a menacing fire warlock have come to
Duvall to train her for a dangerous mandatory challenge. But is
there more to their arrival than they claim?
When a curse leads to a toxic spill of pixie
dust, the town comes unglued and the doors between the human and
faery worlds begin to open. To rescue the town and to face the impossible
magical test, Tammy needs the help of incredibly handsome Bryn Lyons,
but WAM has declared him totally off-limits. To avoid deadly consequences,
Tammy probably ought to follow the rules this time…
On the other hand, rebellion is an old Texas
tradition.
The series debut, Would-Be
Witch, is highly recommended by Anne!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Tuesday,
September 8, 6:30 p.m.
Timothy Hallinan
More details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Three
events, September 9-10
Aaron
Elkins
Edgar Award-winning crime writer & forensic anthropologist Aaron
Elkins will sign & discuss his books at three
Houston events, celebrating the 200th annivesary of Charles
Darwin's birth and the 150th annivesary of the publication
of The Origin of Species.
Aaron Elkins's mysteries and thrillers have
garnered an Edgar, an Agatha, and a Nero Wolfe Award. His books
have been made into a major ABC television series and have been
published in thirteen languages. Aaron is a frequent contributor
to the New York Times' travel magazine and has also written
for Smithsonian magazine. His major continuing series features
forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver, "the Skeleton Detective."
A former professor of physical anthropology himself, Aaron keeps
his hand in by currently serving as forensic anthropologist for
the Clallam County Sheriff's Department Cold Case Task Force. He
and his wife Charlotte live on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, their
marriage having survived (more or less intact) their collaboration
on five novels and several short stories. Visit Aaron Elkins's website
here.
Event
#1
Where: Houston Public Library (Downtown Branch)
When: Wednesday, September 9, 7:00 p.m.
In cooperation with Houston
Darwin 2009.
Free & open to the public! Book sales provided by Murder
By The Book.
Plus, Aaron will sign & discuss his new Gideon Oliver novel,
Skull Duggery (Berkley Prime Crime;
$24.95).
Event #2
Where: The
Briar Club (2603 Timmons Lane @ Westheimer)
When: Thursday, September 10, 11:30 a.m.
Our latest Mystery Author Luncheon event! Tickets required.
On sale soon! Book sales provided by Murder By The Book.
"Notes from the Casebook of the World's Greatest Forensic Anthropologist."
Some of the intriguing real-life cases on which the exploits of
"Skeleton Detective" Gideon Oliver are based. Plus, Aaron
will sign & discuss his new Gideon Oliver novel, Skull
Duggery (Berkley Prime Crime; $24.95).
Event #3
Where: Murder By The Book
When: Thursday, September 10, 6:30 p.m.
"Making Crime Pay." Everything you ever wanted to know
(and more) about the agonies and ecstasies of a crime writer's life.
Plus, Aaron will sign & discuss his new Gideon Oliver novel,
Skull Duggery (Berkley Prime Crime;
$24.95).
More information on all events to be
updated soon!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Saturday,
September 12, 5:00 p.m.
Edgar Award winner
David
Ellis
“A top-notch thriller writer.” -- Booklist
“A writer who expands his ambition and artistry from book
to book.” -- Publishers Weekly
Edgar
Award-winning crime writer / attorney David Ellis -- the lead prosecutor
in the trial of ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich -- will
sign & discuss his new thriller, The Hidden Man
(Putnam; $25.95), which is the debut
in an exciting new series. Ellis is both a well-respected lawyer
in Illinois, where he is Counsel to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, as well as one of the most promising up-and-coming
thriller writers working today. With The Hidden Man, he
delivers a tour de force of mystery storytelling, a gripping tale
of murder, lies, deception, and redemption.
It begins with every mother’s worst
nightmare: The disappearance of a child. Young Audrey Cutler is
snatched from her bedroom while her family sleeps, a horrible crime
that will go unsolved for decades. Nearly 30 years later, this awful
night will be relived over and over by two men. One of them is Sammy
Cutler, Audrey’s vengeful brother, arrested for the murder
of the prime suspect in the disappearance, a child molester who
left a trail of devastated victims behind. The other is Sammy’s
former best friend, now a lawyer desperate to uncover the truth…even
though he has no idea how close to this case he really is.
When Jason Kolarich is hired to defend his
former best friend against the murder charge, he cannot expect what
will come next. Kolarich is still reeling from the recent deaths
of both his wife and daughter, an unimaginable loss from which he
knows he will never recover. He’s also watching helplessly
as his younger brother, whom he’s always sworn to protect,
slides dangerously into drugs and crime. With his life falling apart,
Kolarich meets the mysterious Mr. Smith, a man ready to pay any
sum of money for Cutler’s defense. A man with secrets, as
well as a plan of his own for winning the case. A man who will force
Kolarich to take on a trial that may end his life…or redeem
it.
Kolarich is set on a race against time to
figure out what really happened to his old friend’s sister,
because only by solving that crime will he ever learn the truth
of what’s happening now. Because once this case is over, he
knows he will be a liability to the deadly and powerful Mr. Smith.
In The Hidden Man, David Ellis introduces
readers to a new kind of protagonist, a flawed but relatable hero
determined to uphold the law…because it’s all he has
left.
David Ellis won the Edgar Award in 2002 for
his first novel, Line of Vision. A graduate of Northwestern
School of Law who later became a partner in a Chicago law firm,
he has successfully managed two careers over the past seven years:
First, as Counsel to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives
and second as the author of five more acclaimed suspense novels.
His book include Life Sentence, Jury of One, In
the Company of Liars, and Eye of the Beholder. Ellis
currently lives in Springfield, Illinois, with his wife, Susan,
his daughter, Abigail, and their two pugs, Otis and Molly.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Saturday,
September 19, afternoon/evening
Amber Benson
More
details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
 Saturday,
September 26, 6:00 p.m.
Sara Paretsky
More details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Tuesday,
October 6, 6:30 p.m.
Edgar Award winner
Joseph
Kanon
More details to
come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Thursday,
October 8, 6:30 p.m.
Libby Fischer Hellmann
More details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Saturday,
October 10, 4:30 p.m.
Debut Houston mystery writer
Rachel
Brady
Debut
Houston mystery writer Rachel Brady will sign &
discuss her first novel, Final Approach
(Poisoned Pen; $24.95). Sometimes clues just fall from
the sky. Four years ago Emily Locke's life was shattered when her
infant daughter and husband were lost in an inexplicable accident.
She has nearly rebuilt her fragile
mental health when Richard Cole, a disgraced former police detective
now working as a PI, resurfaces. He wants help he says only she
can provide—reconnaissance at a Texas skydiving establishment
over a thousand miles away. Emily knows better than to work with
him again, but can't refuse when she learns it's about a missing
boy. She identifies too greatly with the new missing child case.
At Gulf Coast Skydiving, similarities between this new case and
Emily's troubled past make it increasingly difficult for her to
stay objective. Soon she's convinced that she is somehow connected
to whoever took little Casey Lyons. Someone at the quiet, rural
airstrip knows what happened to the boy... and to Emily's own daughter.
To find Casey before it's too late, Emily will have to make sense
of the menacing parallels between his case and her daughter's.
A graduate of Wright State University and
The Ohio State University, Rachel enjoys a career in biomedical
engineering in addition to the time she spends writing mystery and
suspense fiction. Her interests include health and fitness, acoustic
guitar, and books of all kinds. She lives outside of Houston, with
her husband and their three children. Visit Rachel on-line at www.rachelbrady.net.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Tuesday,
October 13, 6:30 p.m.
Deborah Crombie
More details to
come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Monday,
October 19, 6:30 p.m.
Sophie Hannah
British crime
writer Sophie Hannah will sign & discuss her
new novel of psychological suspense, The Wrong Mother
(Penguin; trade paperback original; $15). Sally Thorning
is watching the news with her husband when she hears an unexpected
name—Mark Bretherick. It’s a name she shouldn’t
know, but last year Sally treated herself to a secret vacation—away
from her hectic family life—and met a man. After their brief
affair, the two planned to never meet again. But now, Mark’s
wife and daughter are dead—and the safety of Sally’s
own family is in doubt. Sophie Hannah established herself as a new
master of psychological suspense with
her previous novel, Little Face. Now with accomplished prose and
a plot guaranteed
to keep readers guessing, The Wrong Mother is Hannah’s most
captivating work yet.
“A superior exercise in storytelling
that... reflects on the chillingly plausible thin line between parenting
and psychosis.” — Financial Times
Sophie
Hannah is a bestselling crime fiction writer. Her psychological
thrillers Little Face, Hurting Distance, and The
Point of Rescue (the UK title for The Wrong Mother)
have sold over 300,000 copies in the UK and are international bestsellers.
Little Face was long-listed for the 2007 Theakston’s
Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award and the IMPAC Award.
Hurting Distance is currently long-listed for the 2008
Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. Sophie's
fifth collection of poetry, Pessimism for Beginners, was
shortlisted for the 2007 TS Eliot Award, and in 2004 she won first
prize in the Daphne DuMaurier Festival Short Story Competition for
her suspense story "The Octopus Nest." She lives in Yorkshire,
England.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Tuesday,
October 20, 6:30 p.m.
Soho Crime fall event #1
Peter Lovesey / James R. Benn / Stuart Neville
Soho writers Peter Lovesey (The Last Detective),
James R. Benn (Billy Boyle), and Stuart
Neville (The Ghosts of Belfast) will
sign & discuss their new books.
Award-winning
crime writer Peter Lovesey will sign his new Peter
Diamond novel, Skeleton Hill (Soho
Crime; $24). Inspector Diamond is faced with a headless
female skeleton and the body of a war reenactor. On Lansdown Hill,
near Bath, a battle between Roundheads and Cavaliers that took place
over 350 years ago is annually reenacted. Two of the reenactors
discover a skeleton that is female, headless, and only about twenty
years old. One of them, a professor who played a Cavalier, is later
found murdered. In the course of his investigation, Peter Diamond
butts heads with the group of vigilantes who call themselves the
Lansdown Society, discovering in the process that his boss Georgina
is a member. She resolves to sideline Diamond, but matters don’t
pan out in accordance with her plans.
"The
author has the gift of making the most ordinary characters interesting
and engaging, and knows how to ratchet up the suspense.... Nobody
can write the modern traditional detective novel as perfectly as
Lovesey."—Denver Post
Peter Lovesey is the author of ten mysteries
in his best-loved Peter Diamond series as well as two in the Hen
Mallin series and eight in the Sergeant Cribb series. He has been
awarded Silver, Gold, and Diamond Daggers by the CWA and the Award
for Lifetime Achievement by Malice Domestic. He lives in Chichester,
England.
Peter Lovesey is highly recommended by
every single MBTB employee!
Crime
writer James R. Benn will sign his fourth Billy
Boyle novel, Evil for Evil (Soho;
$24). Billy Boyle goes to Northern Ireland to keep the
Irish Republic out of World War II. Fifty
BARs have been stolen from a US army base in Northern Ireland. His
uncle Ike Eisenhower sends Billy to recover the weapons which might
be used in a German-sponsored IRA uprising. Bodies begin to accumulate
as
Billy finds unexpected challenges to his Boston-Irish upbringing
and IRA sympathies. There are rogues on both sides, he learns.
"Benn continues
to create fascinating behind-the-scenes mysteries from little-known
facets of World War II history.... A fast-paced mix of action, adventure,
and crime solving.... A solid series that keeps getting better."—Booklist
James R. Benn is the author of three previous
books in the Billy Boyle series, Billy Boyle, The First
Wave, and Blood Alone. He is a librarian and lives
in Hadlyme, Connecticut.
As with Lovesey, Benn is very
highly recommended by MBTB employees!
Debut
crime writer Stuart Neville will sign & discuss
his first novel, The Ghosts of Belfast
(Soho; $24). Fegan has been a “hard man,” an
IRA killer in northern Ireland. Now that peace has come, he is being
haunted day and night by twelve ghosts: a mother and infant, a schoolboy,
a butcher, an RUC constable, and seven other of his innocent victims.
In order to appease them, he’s going to have to kill the men
who gave him orders. As he’s
working his way down the list he encounters a woman who may offer
him redemption; she has borne a child to an RUC officer and is an
outsider too. Now he has given Fate—and his quarry—a
hostage. Is this Fegan’s ultimate mistake?
“The
best first novel I’ve read in years. . . . It’s a flat-out
terror trip.”—James Ellroy
“Not only one of the finest thriller
debuts of the last ten years, but also one of the best Irish novels,
in any genre, of recent times.”—John Connolly
“The Ghosts of Belfast is
the book when the world finally sits up and goes WOW, the Irish
really have taken over the world of crime writing. Stuart Neville
is Ireland’s answer to Henning Mankell.”—Ken Bruen
"Sure to garner attention and stir lively
pub discussions."—Library Journal blog
Stuart Neville is a partner in a multimedia
design business based in Armagh, northern Ireland. This novel is
the first in a series.
Highly recommended by McKenna!
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Wednesday,
October 21, 6:30 p.m.
Michael Connelly & Reed Farrel Coleman
#1 New York
Times best-seller Michael Connelly & two-time
Edgar Award-nominated crime writer Reed Farrel Coleman
will sign & discuss their new novels.
#1
New York Times best-seller Michael Connelly
(The Black Echo; The Scarecrow) will sign &
discuss his new Harry Bosch novel, 9 Dragons
(Little, Brown; $27.99). Signing line numbers beginning
the on-sale date, Tuesday, October 13th!
Harry Bosch is assigned a homicide call in
South L.A. that takes him to Fortune Liquors, where the Chinese
owner has been shot to death behind the counter in an apparent robbery.
Joined by members of the department's Asian
Crime Unit, Bosch relentlessly investigates the killing and soon
identifies a suspect, a Los Angeles member of a Hong Kong triad.
But before Harry can close in, he gets the word that his young daughter
Maddie, who lives in Hong Kong with her mother, is missing.
Bosch drops everything to journey across
the Pacific to find his daughter. Could her disappearance and the
case be connected? With the stakes of the investigation so high
and so personal, Bosch is up against the clock in a new city, where
nothing is at it seems.
Award-winning
crime novelist Reed Farrel Coleman will sign &
discuss his new book, Tower (co-written
w/ Ken Bruen; Busted Flush Press; paperback original; $15).
Born into a rough Brooklyn neighborhood, outsiders in their own
families, Nick and Todd forge a lifelong bond that persists in the
face of crushing loss, blood, and betrayal. Low-level wiseguys with
little ambition and even less of a future, the friends become major
players in the potential destruction of an international crime syndicate
that stretches from the cargo area at Kennedy Airport to the streets
of New York, Belfast, and Boston to the alleyways of Mexican border
towns. Their paths are littered with the bodies of undercover cops,
snitches, lovers, and stone-cold killers.
In the tradition of The Long Goodbye, Mystic River,
and The Departed, Tower is a powerful meditation
on friendship, fate, and fatality. A twice-told tale done in the
unique format of parallel narratives that intersect at deadly crossroads,
Tower is like a beautifully crafted knife to the heart.
Imagine a Brooklyn rabbi/poet—Reed
Farrel Coleman—collaborating with a mad Celt from the West
of Ireland—Ken Bruen—to produce a novel unlike anything
you’ve ever encountered. A ferocious blast of gut-wrenching
passion that blends the fierce granite of Galway and the streetwise
rap of Brooklyn. Fasten your seat belts, this is an experience that
is as incendiary as it is heart shriven.
Reed Farrel Coleman was recently featured
on NPR's Fresh Air! Read or hear the story here.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Thursday,
October 29, 6:30 p.m.
Dan Chaon
National
Book Award finalist Dan Chaon will sign & discuss
his new crime novel, Await Your Reply
(Ballantine; $25). The lives
of three strangers interconnect in unforeseen ways -- and with unexpected
consequences -- in acclaimed author Dan Chaon’s gripping,
brilliantly written new novel.
Longing to get on with his life, Miles Cheshire
nevertheless can’t stop searching for his troubled twin brother,
Hayden, who has been missing for ten years. Hayden has covered his
tracks skillfully, moving stealthily from place to place, managing
along the way to hold down various jobs and seem, to the people
he meets, entirely normal. But some version of the truth is always
concealed.
A few days after graduating from high school,
Lucy Lattimore sneaks away from the small town of Pompey, Ohio,
with her charismatic former history teacher. They arrive in Nebraska,
in the middle of nowhere, at a long-deserted motel next to a dried-up
reservoir, to figure out the next move on their path to a new life.
But soon Lucy begins to feel quietly uneasy.
My whole life is a lie, thinks Ryan Schuyler,
who has recently learned some shocking news. In response, he walks
off the Northwestern University campus, hops on a bus, and breaks
loose from his existence, which suddenly seems abstract and tenuous.
Presumed dead, Ryan decides to remake himself -- through unconventional
and precarious means.
Await Your Reply is a literary masterwork
with the momentum of a thriller, an unforgettable novel in which
pasts are invented and reinvented and the future is both seductively
uncharted and perilously unmoored.
Highly recommended by McKenna!
Dan
Chaon is the acclaimed author of Among the Missing, which
was a finalist for the National Book Award, and You Remind Me
of Me, which was named one of the best books of the year by
The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle,
The Christian Science Monitor, and Entertainment Weekly,
among other publications. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in
many journals and anthologies, including The Best American Short
Stories, Pushcart Prize, and The O. Henry Prize Stories.
He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction,
and he was the recipient of the 2006 Academy Award in Literature
from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chaon lives in Cleveland,
Ohio, and teaches at Oberlin College, where he is the Pauline M.
Delaney Professor of Creative Writing.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Sometime
in November
Soho Crime fall event #2
Martin Limón
Crime
writer Martin Limón will sign & discuss
his new George Sueño / Ernie Bascom novel, G.
I. Bones (Soho; $24). A
Korean fortune-teller is being bothered by a dead American soldier
who wants his bones found and buried. An underage officer’s
daughter is missing together with a Latino soldier. Several of the
leading Korean gangsters who own the bars in the ville have been
killed. Sueño and Bascom of Military Intelligence must go
back to the founding of Itaewon, Seoul’s red-light district,
in order to learn who killed the soldier, who’s taking revenge
on the gang lords, and where to find the missing girl.
David's highest recommendation!
If you're a fan of Colin Cotterill, John Burdett, or Michael Connelly,
please don't miss this wonderful series!
“Setting the standard for military
crime fiction, Limón’s compelling stories of murder,
greed, and abuse of power are set off by the Korean culture and
1970s atmosphere.”—Library Journal, starred
review
“Altogether engaging.”—The
Washington Post Book World
“Combining the grim routine of a modern
police procedural with the cliff-hanging action of a thriller movie.”—The
Wall Street Journal
“It’s great to have these two
mavericks back.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Easily the best military mysteries
in print today.”—Lee Child
“Martin Limón does what the
best storytellers do: take you away to a brand new world.”—Michael
Connelly
Martin Limón is the author of numerous
stories about his army police duo as well as five previous novels,
Jade Lady Burning (a New York Times Notable Book
of the Year), Slicky Boys, Buddha’s Money,
The Door to Bitterness, and The Wandering Ghost,
all available from Soho Crime. He lives near Seattle.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
Saturday,
November 7, 4:30 p.m.
Greg Herren
New
Orleans crime writer Greg Herren will sign &
discuss his new Chanse MacLeod novel, Murder in the
Garden District (Alyson; paperback original;
$14.95). How can you find the truth when everyone is lying?
The murder of a Louisiana politician running
for the U.S. Senate draws Chanse into the Byzantine world of Louisiana
politics, where little makes sense and nothing is what it seems.
Especially when this brand-new murder seems to be connected to a
series of murders going back thirty years, and Chanse has to untangle
a Gordian knot of lies, cover-ups, and Louisiana style corruption.
Greg Herren
is the author of eight novels, including the award winning Murder
in the Rue Chartres, which was called by the New Orleans
Times-Picayune "one of the most true reflections I've
read of the reality of life as we fled from a hurricane and returned
to post-K life in New Orleans." He has published over fifty
short stories in numerous anthologies and magazines, including New
Orleans Noir and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
He lives in New Orleans.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
 sometime
in early December
Sue Grafton
More details to come.
Please call or e-mail
to order signed or inscribed copies.
We're
also working on Clive
Cussler, Carolyn Haines, Gary Phillips, Brian Azzarello,
Mark Gimenez, Louise Penny,
and more. Please stay tuned for more details.
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