Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Harlan Coben in Seattle

Had a blast here at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop.  I heard rumors that there would be more nudity though.  Still it was a great event.....

Best,

Harlan

HarlanCoben.com

 

 

The Quick Auction

Our auction to benefit Japanese relief by the American Red Cross closes tomorrow at noon, our time. As of now, the bid stands at $500. Anyone wishing to dazzle the world with your beneficences should send in their higher bid. We will all be amazed and encouraged. Not that we aren't already!

Until noon, then!

 - the Crew

Sunny Seattle - LIES????

So I leave rainy San Francisco and arrive in sun drenched Seattle, like always, to the smiling welcoming JB, Fran and Amber here at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop, like always. I suspect a vicious rumor about rain in Seattle - that people want to keep this place to themselves. Loved seeing Martin Limon, who took a lunch break and came over. My favorite book of his is Jade Lady Burning which our publisher at Soho is re-issuing in a 20th anniversary edition in November.

Murder in Passy, the latest Aimee Leduc investigation, takes place in November 1997 when people paid in Francs, still smoked in cafes and Aimee uses dial-up. Mais oui, pre-Google. She's trying to vindicate Morbier, her godfather a Police Commissaire who's accused of murder. Her investigation leads her to Basque separatists, police corruption and a kidnapped Spanish Princess.

Bises Cara

Check out the Aimee Leduc Companion!

 

 

 Aimee & Martin

 
Aimee shows the crowd the map of the 'City of Lights'
 

Do we hear

$501

The High Bid for our auction of Quicksilver to benefit Japan remains

$500

And the top bid - - - -

as of the end of business today is:

$500

Special Deal for a Good Cause

    We got an advanced reader’s copy of the forthcoming Amanda Quick thriller, Quicksilver. Jayne Ann Krentz (aka Quick) stopped by to see Lisa Gardner on St. Patrick’s Day and we had her sign and date it. The hardcover will not be out until April 19th – so here’s your chance to get the only signed and dated copy available to the public:

    For the next week, until noon PST on Friday, March 25, we’ll be taking bids on it. The winning bid’s money will be sent to the American Red Cross for Japanese relief.     

    Here are the rules:

- Bids may be submitted by e-mail or phone. Please call during business hours. (Messages left on our machine can be garbled and misunderstood or lost.)         

- We can tell you what the current high bid is – not who. We will post the high bid at the end of each day on our blog and on Facebook.

- You can bid as often as you’d like.

- We will notify the winner and that person will send us a personal check already made out to the Red Cross. We will forward the check to the Red Cross. (The money will never enter our accounts. That’s why we won’t due this by credit card. We’ll just put it in a new envelope and put a new stamp on it.)

- Once we receive the check, we’ll send the book – not before.

    We went over this proposal with Jayne and she’s agreed to be part of it. She’ll be announcing it through her own system as well. We all agreed on the Red Cross because we all know it and they don’t take an outlandish amount of the donation as overhead.

Get Going and Be Generous!

 

Good Books vs. Green Beer

In proper Irish tradition, why choose?  Nothing like spending St. Patrick's at Seattle Mystery Books, talking favorite authors, scary stories and skeletal remains.   I signed novels, and even picked up two new authors to try, based on Fran's excellent recommendations.  Now, it's off to find that green beer... 

Lisa Gardner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Jayne Ann Krentz came in to say hellow and get a copy of Lisa's book. Look, they're both wearing GREEN, too!

 

If we could, we here at SMB would have at least one person who's read something by an author coming in to sign. Sadly, that isn't always possible, but in an ideal world, that's how we'd like to do things.

Lisa Gardner has been in to sign a few times, so I decided it was high time I read some of her work, and her latest, Love You More (Bantam, $26.00, signing on Thursday, March 17 {St. Patrick's Day! – wear green to match her incredible eyes!}) seemed like just the place to start. Granted, it's fifth in the D. D. Warren/Bobby Drake series, and generally I prefer starting a series at the beginning, but time was running short and I figured I'd at least be able to converse about her latest, which is always nice.

The story is that Massachusetts State Trooper Tessa Leoni has shot and killed her husband. Her fractured cheek and fading bruises on her ribs are a testament to his abusive nature. However, some things don't quite add up. Tessa's beloved six-year-old daughter, Sophie, is missing. And Tessa has killed before, not in the line of duty.

So Detective Sergeant D. D. Warren of the Boston PD and State Police Detective Bobby Dodge begin investigating. Warren doesn't believe Leoni's story, but most of all, she wants to find Sophie. And all signs point to Leoni as a cold-blooded killer.

I suspect I avoided reading Lisa Gardner's work because I had in my head the mistaken notion that she wrote romantic suspense, and while it's an excellent genre, I'm the sort to skip all the steamy parts of a book and cut back to the chase. The romantic parts generally just aren't my thing, so I had bypassed Ms. Gardner's work.

I was wrong. Oh boy, was I wrong!

Lisa Gardner is a master of psychological suspense. She's got, to judge by this one book, solid insights as to what makes people tick, and she is excellent at making sure all the clues are there and then directing your attention right past them. She gives her characters strengths, flaws and strong motivations, and she lets them live and breathe and be real.

In Love You More, the story is told from both Warren and Drake's point of view -- told in 3rd person -- and from Tessa Leoni's point of view -- told in 1st person. I was fascinated by the fact that we were outside the protagonists' heads, but deep inside the accused murderer's thoughts. It made for a compelling and twisty ride, knowing things that our heroes didn't, and made for a wrenching dichotomy. Who do you root for when everybody's got secrets and you want everyone to win?

Lisa Gardner writes with powerful authenticity and her characters are human and believeable and very real, and her story telling is first rate. At the end, I looked back and I saw all the pieces laid out before me, and was impressed with her skill at directing me right past the evidence until she was ready for it to be revealed.

So now, despite the fact that I have several other books to read and review, I am compelled to go back and read the entire series, starting with Alone (Bantam, $7.99), and then I may have to read her other series and stand-alones as well! Barbara Hambly, Robert Dugoni, Lars Kepler will all have to wait, I'm afraid. I have more Lisa Gardner that must be read right now!

 - Fran

FRIENDS OF MYSTERY

SPOTTED OWL COMMITTEE NAMES 2011 WINNER 

Dana Haynes has been named the winner of 2011 Spotted Owl Award for his novel Crashers. The thriller begins with the crash of a commercial airliner on interstate highway, I-5. The National Transportation Safety Board sends its crack team of investigators to determine the cause of the crash. As the investigators begin to sift through the evidence, they become aware that it was not pilot error or mechanical failure, but a terrorist plot that brought the plane down. International intelligence indicates another plane is the next target. The investigators must use all their expertise to prevent another crash.

The 2011 award marks the 16th year of Spotted Owl winners. Previous winners are Kate Wilhelm, Kris (Nelscott) Rusch, and Lowen Clausen, who have each won the award twice. Other winners include Alan Bradley, Earl Emerson, John Straley, Tom Mitcheltree, L.L. Thrasher, Marcia Simpson, G.M. Ford, Kevin O’Brien, Mike Doogan and Phil Margolin.

Runners up for the 2011 Spotted Owl Award are: Jon Talton for Deadline Man, Robert Dugoni for Bodily Harm, Mike Lawson for House Justice, Patrick McManus for The Huckleberry Murders, Bill Cameron for Day One, Phillip Margolin for Supreme Justice, Greg Rucka for The Last Run, Steve Martini for The Rule of Nine, Michael Gruber for The Good Son.

The committee of five Friends of Mystery members evaluated 61 books. Friends of Mystery is a non-profit literary/educational organization with headquarters in Portland, Oregon. For the past 26 years we have presented lectures, organized conferences, and sponsored reading groups. We also publish a regular newsletter, The Bloodletter. Our purpose is to promote the study and understanding of mystery literature. For more information visit our web site at http://www.friendsofmystery.org/

Chelsea Cain

There are some basic rules of human conduct. Don’t stab each other. Don’t read in the bathtub. And don’t write in books. I have never been asked to stab anyone, but I am asked to write in books all the time.

“Sign your name,” people say. “Write something funny.”

Simple, right?

You would be amazed at how often it goes wrong.

First of all, writing in a book is stressful. I am using a Sharpie. Permanent marker. When I was a kid, and I would give someone a book as a gift, I would write the inscription in pencil, so that the person could erase it later. Sharpies cannot be erased. Sharpies are forever.

Then there is the spelling. I am not good at it. I once, and I swear to you this is totally true, asked, “Jennifer? Is that one ‘N’ or two?” It is very easy, when someone is staring at you, to misspell “Dan.”

I have not even brought up my handwriting. It’s bad. Sometimes people can’t read what I’ve written. Sometimes this works to my favor, because I can hide the misspellings.

A few times, I have misspelled my own name.

Which brings me to the signature.

Should be easy, right? I mean, we all sign our names. Less so these days, with the demise of writing checks, but still, often. We sign permission slips. We sign mortgages. We sign credit card slips and IRS paperwork and report cards.

I have even worked on my signature. I have practiced it. I have developed a signature that I think is nice. First and last name. When I started using it, my voting ballot was rejected because the signature didn’t match the one they had on file. Under no pressure, I am able to produce this signature beautifully. Put me at a table with a line of people waiting, and strange things start to happen. The letters get flatter. The H starts to lasso my first name.

I inscribe, sign, and then hand the book back to its owner. “I’m sorry,” I want to say. I feel terrible. I’ve ruined their nice new book. Mangled it. They don’t seem to mind. I think I know why. Now that it’s been vandalized, they can read it guilt-free in the tub.

Chelsea Cain

A Stable Home

Isn't that what everyone searches for - a stable home, a safe place, shelter from the storm? When a runner scores in baseball, they've made it 'home'. Someone who is level-headed has their feet on the ground. Terra-firma is so reassuring to sailors and astronauts and pilots and little kids climbing trees. Things that are durable and reliable are 'rock solid' and those sorts of folks are 'earthy'. Everyone just wants to be grounded, get their hands in the dirt, play in the fields, take the high road - any analogy you can come up with.

 

But we were reminded today that the Earth is not the stable, reliable place we like to think it is. It is an active thing and we're just along for the ride. The quake that hit Japan yesterday reminds us all of this, especially those of us who live here on the Pacific Ocean in the "Ring of Fire". Christchurch, Tokyo... one day it will be Seattle's turn. We're 10 years past the last quake and it wasn't a big one, not like what awaits us.

But, for now, we'd like to extend our thoughts and wishes and condolences to our friends and family members and customers who've been affected by this quake and its afteraffects.

We live on a pretty little blue sphere, one that looks so beautiful and peaceful and supportive from space. Beautiful, yes, but not always stable.

The Robert Hess/Dick Francis Collection

 

Robert Hess spent years building his Dick Francis collection. Its a complete collection, including British first editions as well as American first editions. His collection began with Francis' debut novel, Dead Cert and followed the bestselling author through to the end, including the books that he co-authored with his son Felix. Mr. Hess also had Francis' works of non-fiction, including his own autobiography as well as a biography of a fellow decorated jockey.

Perhaps half of the books are signed. Some on the title page, some on the half-title page as seems to be the custom in Europe.

Here are three of the earlier American covers, all from Harper & Row in the mid-60s. We've been refering to these three, apparently all done by the same artist, as the 'hipster covers'.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're interested in looking at any of these, don't wait too long.

They're already selling!

 

from Allposters.com
 

A .50 Caliber Gift from Lori Amstrong!

 
 

The Robert Hess/Dick Francis Collection

 

We’ve taken in a comprehensive collection of Dick Francis books, nearly every book in hardcover, both the original UK and the US 1^st editions. Many are signed, perhaps half. JB’s working on a list of them that will give details (grades and conditions, signed or not, and prices) and he expects to have that done shortly. If you’d like to be e-mailed a copy of that list or to be notified when they are in the shop and available for sale let usk now. In the meantime, there’s a photo of the collection as it was in the owner’s home on our blog. If you can see them, the ones that have a white dot on the spine are the signed copies (the dot is on the dust jacket wrapper, not the actual dust jacket.

 

Our Febuary 2011 Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1 – Urban Waite, The Terror of Living, Little Brown

2 – J.A. Jance, Fatal Error, Touchstone

3 – Joanne Fluke, Devil’s Food Cake Murder, Kensington

4 – Dana Stabenow, Through Not Dead, Minotaur

5 – Robert Crais, The Sentry, Putnam

6 – Randy Wayne White, Night Vision, Putnam

7 – Alan Bradley, A Red Herring without Mustard, Delacorte

8 – Kelli Stanley, The Curse-Maker, Minotaur

9 – Kate Wilhelm, Heaven is High, Minotaur

10 – tie

Zoë Sharp, Fourth Day, Pegasus

Martha Grimes, Fadeaway Girl, Viking

Trade Paperback

1 – Cherie Priest, Bloodshot, Ballantine

2 – Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Bantam

3 – Alan Bradley, The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bow, Bantam

4 – tie

Lori Armstong, Mercy Kill, Touchstone

Michael Robertson, The Baker Street Letters, Minotaur

6 – tie

Jo Nesbo, The Devil’s Star, Harper

Jo Nesbo, Redbreast, Harper

Lou Berney, Gutshot Straight, Harper

Wesley Stace, Charles Jessold, Considered As A Murderer, Picador

Susan Hill, The Vows of Silence, Overlook

Mass Market

1 – Yasmine Galenorn, Blood Wyne, Berkley

2 – tie

Martha Grimes, The Black Cat, Signet

Nancy Atherton, Aunt Dimity’s Death, Penguin

4 – Lori Armstrong, No Mercy, Pocket

5 – Lorraine Bartlett, A Crafty Killing, Berkley

6 – Sofie Kelly, Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, Obsidian

7 – D.D. Barant, Dying Bites, St. Martin’s

8 – Louise Penny, Still Life, St. Martin’s

9 – Joanne Fluke, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, Kensington

10 – tie

Joan Hess, The Merry Wives of Maggody, St. Martins

Christy Evans, Drip Dead, Berkley

Amanda Lee, Stitch Me Deadly, Obsidian

Carol O’Connell, Mallory’s Oracle, Jove

Deanna Raybourn, Silent in the Grave, Mira