Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Thick As Thieves

"But what was that you was saying about there being 'a reckoning?"  Crooked cops, submachine guns, sex, ransom money and revenge. Don't you just love a mystery? Especially one set in the old Seattle of 1940? I hope the readers have as much fun with this as I did in writing it. The feedback has been great, and this has been an incredible experience at Seattle Mystery Bookshop. I'm looking forward to returning with my sequel, Sign of the Dragon, which is going to leave you wanting more stories of Alan Stewart, Seattle's newest private detective.

Neil E. J. Low

Another Man's Moccasins

Into the Great Northwest with bugs in my teeth must be paying off since we're number 19 on Mystery Hardback sales nationwide on Bookscan... Hmm... I fear for the tastes of the reading public! Always great to be here in Seattle, meeting with family friends and Ivar's clams down on the wharf.

All the best,

Craig Johnson

Stella Rimington

Espionage is back in London and Liz Carlyle of MI5 is out to solve the latest threat. Who is trying to silence the rich Russian living in London? The latest fast paced thriller from the former DG of MI5 tells it as it is - and she sure knows how it's really done.

Stella Remington

Master of the Delta

I think you will all enjoy this dark tale.   Try the first line:  "I was badly shaped by my good fortune, and thus failed to see the darkness and the things that darkness hides."  I promise you that the first two things you think you know this book will be wrong.  I've worked hard to make sure of that.  So this is a test.  Try it.

Thomas H. Cook

. . .wonderful new book, Uneasy Relations. . .

What a wonderful new book Uneasy Relations is--one of the very best mysteries I've ever read--witty, clever, intelligent!  I loved every page. 

Signed, Anonymous

ANGELS, DEMONS, AND NIXON

A reporter this morning asked me why the portrait I sketch of Richard Nixon -- who is an important character in my new novel Palace Council -- is so sympathetic.  I was not aware that it was.  I simply try to make my characters plausible and complex.  The world is too vast, and humanity too delicate, for us to waste time identifying angels and demons.  Reducing people to applause lines makes life easier -- but not better.

Stephen L. Carter

Independent Mystery Booksellers Association June Bestsellers

Independent Mystery Booksellers Association June Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1 - Lee Child, NOTHING TO LOSE, Bantam

2 - Janet Evanovich, FEARLESS FOURTEEN, St. Martin's

3 - Jeffrey Deaver, THE BROKEN WINDOW, Simon & Schuster

4 - Julia Spencer-Fleming, I SHALL NOT WANT, St. Martin's

5 - tie

     Don Winslow, THE DAWN PATROL, Knopf

     Deborah Crombie, WHERE MEMORIES LIE, Morrow

7 - Elizabeth George, CARELESS IN RED, Harper

8 - tie

     Meg Gardiner, THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB, Dutton

     Victoria Thompson, MURDER ON BANK STREET, Berkley

10 - John Connolly, THE REAPERS, Atria

Trade Paperbacks

1 - Tana French, IN THE WOODS, Penguin

2 - Duane Swierczynski, SEVERANCE PACKAGE, St. Martin's

3 - Delano Ames, SHE SHALL HAVE MURDER, Rue Morgue

4 - Kathryn Miller Haines, WINTER OF HER DISCONTENT, Harper

5 - Kathryn Miller Haines, WAR AGAINST MISS WINTERS, Harper

6 - tie

     Francie Lin, THE FOREIGNER, Picador

     Leonie Swann, THREE BAGS FULL, Flying Dolphin Press

8 - Anne Cleeves, RAVEN BLACK, St. Martin's

9 - Stephen L. Carter, NEW ENGLAND WHITE, Vintage

10 - Rebecca Stott, GHOST WALK, Spiegel & Grau

Mass Market Paperbacks

1 - Jo Dereske, INDEX TO MURDER, Avon

2 - Honor Hartman, THE UNKINDEST CUT, Signet

3 - Meg Gardiner, CHINA LAKE, Obsidian

4 - James Lee Burke, THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN, Pocket

5 - Maggie Sefton, A KILLER STITCH, Berkley

6 - tie

     Rebecca Kent, HIGH MARKS FOR MURDER, Berkley

     Lorna Barrett, MURDER IS BINDING, Berkley

8 - Louise Penny, STILL LIFE, St. Martin's

9 - Victoria Thompson, MURDER IN CHINATOWN, Berkley

10 - Marion Babson, ONLY THE CAT KNOWS, St. Martin's

June 2008 Bestsellers

Seattle Mystery Bookshop's June Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1 - Lee Child, Nothing to Lose, Bantam

2 - Mike Lawson, House Rules, Atlantic

3 - John Connolly, The Reapers, Atria

4 - Jeffrey Deaver, The Broken Window, Simon & Schuster

5 - Don Winslow, The Dawn Patrol, Knopf

6 - Elizabeth George, Careless in Red, Harper

7 - tie

Steve Martini, Shadow of Power, Morrow

Philip Margolin, Executive Power, Harper

9 - tie

John Straley, The Big Both Ways, Alaska Northwest

Julia Spencer-Fleming, I Shall Not Want, St. Martin's

Alan Furst, The Spies of Warsaw, Random House

Trade paper

1 - Leonie Swann, Three Bags Full, Flying Dolphin Press

2 - Tana French, In the Woods, Penguin

3 - Duane Swierazynski, Severance Package, St. Martin's

4 - tie

Michael Gruber, The Book of Air and Shadows, Harper

Lisa Lutz, The Spellman Files, Simon & Schuster

Susan Hill, The Various Haunts of Men, Overlook

7 - tie

Nicola Griffith, Always, Riverhead

John Straley, The Big Both Ways, Alaska Northwest

Martin Cruz Smith, Stalin's Ghost, Pocket

Jeff Lindsey, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Vintage

Mass Market

1 - Jo Dereske, Miss Zukas and the Library Murder, Avon

2 - Jo Dereske, Index to Murder, Avon

3 - Mike Lawson, The Inside Ring, Vintage

4 - Donald E. Westlake, Somebody Owes Me Money, Hard Case

5 - Mike Lawson, The Second Perimeter, Vintage

6 - tie - Lee Child, Killing Floor, Jove / Bad Luck and Trouble, Bantam

8 - Rebecca Kent, High Marks for Murder, Berkley

9 - James Rollins, The Judas Strain, Harper

10 - James Lee Burke, The Tin Roof Blowdown, Pocket

Sunny in Seattle, but it's drooling...

  I always love signing at Seattle Mystery Bookstore because they are infested with dogs. This time it was "Bounder," a hundred-plus pound brindle Great Dane.  As a relapsed veterinarian, it's always great to sneak in an impromptu physical exam.  Plus all the drool.  Not too many attendees drool when you meet them (okay there have been a few), so that's always great!  Also it's nice  to sit in their well-padded chair and be able to chat casually with people about everything from the latest Sigma book to the secrets behind Indiana Jones...even about the weather.  FYI, it's SUNNY in Seattle...who woulda guessed!

Thanks for the day!

Jim Rollins

Cezanne's Quarry. A Mystery

Do you want to take a trip to the south of France this summer without spending one Euro? How about meeting Cezanne during his years of struggle? And meeting a mysterious lover that no biographer has ever been able to identify? Come to Aix-en-Provence for a sultry August journey in the summer of 1885. Meet the alluring Solange Vernet and her geologist lover, with a shady past, Charles Westerbury. Find out who did it and why. Why was Cezanne obsessed? Why did he paint enigmatic violent and erotic paintings in his youth? The answers will be found in the quarry, Cezanne's Quarry.

Barbara Corrado Pope