Seattle Mystery Bookshop

New Book Corner

  

Newzine 3.27.15

We’re looking for a videographer in the Seattle area who would be interested in helping us with a Special Project. Got a good video camera and the ability to edit what you capture, and interested in helping a Seattle institution? If you fit the bill and would like to contribute time and energy for a good cause, let us know.

On Hold

We’re coming to the end of the month and it’d be a good time to come get any books you have on hold. That’s a great way to help your favorite authors get onto the monthly bestseller lists – ours and others. (plus the hold shelves are kinda jammed…)

Used Books In!

Another week of used books – Thomas B. Dewey, E. Howard Hunt, Wade Miller, Henry Kane, Dolores Hitchens, and a smattering of other authors (Neil MacNeil/W.T. Ballard, Amber Dean, Spencer Dean, Aaron Marc Stern, Ursula Curtis).  Lots and lots of great pulp covers throughout all of these.  Let us know if you’re looking for something. Maybe we have it!

Gift Certificates:

They’re available in Whatever Denomination You Want; They Don’t Expire; You can Order Them by Phone, e-mail or through the Website, and we can Mail them directly to the Recipient if you’d like. Perfect for all sorts of occasions.

Links of Interest:

There have been a lot of shows about Sherlock Holmes, but now there’s one in the works about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini!

Harlan Coben: 'Every successful author still has to treat it as a job' (He’s sold more books than most of your favourite authors combined, but the master of the suburban thriller, Harlan Coben, isn’t getting complacent. We talk to him about shunning social media, ‘champagne problems’ and playing golf, badly)

While we specialize in mystery and crime books, we can order virtually any new book that you might want, no matter what its topic.

See the calendar of all currently-scheduled events on our website. The website calendar contains plot synopses. At the bottom of it is the updated, complete list of signed copies that we’ll be getting from other sources. Click Here.

Mary Daheim, April 11

Shawn Lawrence Otto, April 16

Kate Dyer-Seeley, April 18

Greg Iles, April 28

Steve Martini, May 12

Allison Leotta, May 19

Tina Connolly, May 23

Ace Atkins, May 27 – 12:30!

Craig Johnson, June 20

Yasmine Galenorn, July 11 Drop-by!

Carola Dunn, June 27

Jenny Milchman, July 30

Kevin O’Brien, Aug 1

Richard Kadrey, Aug 25

And there are always more on the way!

Remember, too, that while it is always fun to come in and meet the author in person, that isn’t always possible. So reserve a signed copy to be mailed to you or for you to pick up later. Those who reserve in advance get the copies in the best condition!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Word of the Week:

graft (n.1): "shoot inserted into another plant," late 15^th C. alteration of Middle English graff (late 14^th C.), from Old French graife "grafting knife, carving tool, stylus," from Latin graphium "stylus," from Greek grapheion "stylus," from graphein "to write" (see -graphy). So called probably on resemblance of a stylus to the pencil-shaped shoots used in grafting. The terminal -t- in the English word is not explained. Surgical sense is from 1871.

graft (n.2): "corruption," 1865, perhaps 1859, American English, perhaps from graft (1) via British slang sense of "one's occupation" (1853), which seems to be from the word's original sense of "digging" (see graft (n.1)).

graft (v.): late 15^th C., from graft (n.1). Related: Grafted; grafting. (thanks to etymonline.com)

You can browse our collectable and hard-to-find books, as well as signed copies from earlier author events, on Biblio.com. You do not have to place an order through them, especially if you’re a long-time customer and we have your ordering info. Just email us to order.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What We’ve Been Reading:                       

Fran Recommends:

I fell in love with the world Anne Bishop created in Written in Red (Roc, $7.99) so when the third in the series,Vision in Silver (Roc, $26.95) came out earlier this month, I decided to read them in order (the middle one is Murder of Crows, also by Roc and $7.99).

Amber warned me that Ms. Bishop tends to work in trilogies, so this might be the end, but I've heard whispers that there's already a sequel and yet another in the works, which is great, because while the series *could* end here, I'm glad it won't. It's just too fabulous a place!

With the cassandra sangue freed, new trouble erupts because the girls really can't manage on their own. The Humans First and Last movement is gaining traction in an unpleasant and almost exponential way, putting the Courtyard at the focal point of all the trouble. Meg is still trying to deal with her addiction, and Simon is trying to cope with Meg, as well as try to get all the Others who deal with humans into a cohesive agreement about how to handle things. And war is brewing on another continent, but that trouble is already affecting everyone here on Thaisia.

I don't want to give too much away if you haven't read the first two, but I will say that not only do you learn more about the Blood Prophets, the cassandra sangue, but you learn a lot about the true power of the Earth Natives. You also get to learn more about the various capabilities of the Others, and - more importantly to me, being the one who falls for the characters - you'll get to learn more about the people. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that getting to meet Monty's daughter, Lizzie, is quite a treat, even if the circumstances are pretty awful.

With Vision in Silver, there's a subtle shift in focus for the next books, I think, more away from the Courtyard and into both the wider continent of Thaisia, along with what's going on globally. I hope she doesn't abandon our Courtyard family, but I wouldn't at all be surprised to see a much larger story arc begin with whatever happens next, and I can't wait!

JB Recommends:

Stephen Hunter has stepped away from his contemporary thriller to pen a surprising book. A writer of great range, I shouldn’t have been surprised. I wasn’t surprised that I enjoyed it so much. It is rare to not enjoy a Hunter novel.

But I, Ripper is very different for him, but still a joy to read. The book unfolds in two distinct and, I thought, authentic voices: one chapter will be from the Jack’s diary; the alternate chapter will be from the view of a young reporter tasked with covering the Whitechapel murders. You get the “inside-the-head-of-maniac” view in a voice that does not at all sound crazy (except for the distance between the voice and the horrors) and the outsider/participant view who is both ghoulishly fascinated by what he’s seeing as well as being a cog in the machinery of hysteria and commerce. After all, gore sells papers! And if the story is lagging and sales fall, well, do something to gin up the mob.

Along the way, Hunter provides a very detailed look at everyday London in 1888, the scents and sounds, the funk and the fog. He does a great job of hiding things in plain sight, mixing in fiction with the fact (the reporter and a professor play Watson and Holmes to try to solve the crimes), springs a couple of surprises to this well-trod and bloody story, and, in the end, presents an ingenious solution to not only whodunnit but why no one was ever put forward, at the time, as being Saucy Jack.

I, Ripper (May, Simon & Schuster hc, $27.99). Great, lurid fun!

First time I read something by Sterling Watson was his debut, Deadly Sweet, in ‘94. (Watson was a fellow writing student in Florida with Dennis Lehane, Barbara Parker and Vicki Henricks, all fine, strong stylists.) It was a great read, as I recall it had a strange, dark humor to it – remember, this is a Florida writer. As too often happens, the authors continue to publisher but we sometimes – too often – don’t continue reading them for whatever reason.

Watson’s latest, Suitcase City (Akashic tpo, $15.95), arrived just when I’d finished one thing and needed something else, something different, and this felt like the time to try him again. Glad I did.

Suitcase City is set in Tampa and follows James Teach, a widowed single father who is well-off, drinks too much, and is haunted by things he did when he was younger. You can’t say he’s happy. Maybe he’s content. Certainly he’s his own worst enemy. No – that’s not right, there’s someone from his past who is his worst enemy and that person has set out to ruin Teach’s life.

The book is tense with racial and class differences, lost love and the ripples of the unintended consquences of choices we make. It is also tense with assumptions brought to interactions, assumptions that are unfair and in error and that then shade the conclusions the assumptions lead one to. In Suitcase City, nearly everyone is guilty of some sin, but not everyone is a criminal.

There’s swift violence, missed signals, lost chances, gunfire, smuggling, and a single slip of fabric, a scarf, that are woven through the story.

But it’s more than a revenge story, it is more than a Hitchcockian innocent man under suspicion, and it is more than a story of crime and cops. Hopes, dreams, dread, and disappointment are big parts of the novel, and that raises it above the pop-thriller of the supermarket racks. It is a book of our time. Watson’s writing puts you right into the soul of each character: “In the men’s room, Teach bent over the sink drinking tap water, cooling his muddy throat, filling a huge and fragile hollowness. Then he vomited for a long time, a wracking chain of heaves, his only pride that they were silent.”

Looking for a new author to try, someone who tells a timeless story in a unique way? Try Steling Watson.

We have twoTumblr blogs, in addition to our regular shop blog:

Hardboiled, maintained by JB – pulp covers, film noir and other images of crime and mystery, and

Reviews and Events – just what it sounds like!

On This Date:

Mar 30, 1913 – pulp illustrator Joseph Szokoli was born in NYC

Mar 30, from Hollywood: Warren Beatty (1937 Richmond, VA) and Robbie Coltrane (1950 Rutherglen, Scotland)

Mar 31, 1922 – thriller writer Lionel Davidson was born in Hull, Yorkshire

Mar 31, 1934 – the first actor to portray Jason Bourne, Richard Chamberlain was born in Beverly Hills

Mar 31, 1958 – Fleming’s 6th Bond novel, Dr. No, was published

April 1, 1859 – George Mansfield Smith-Cummings was born in British India. In 1911, he would be appointed head of the new Foreign Section of the British government’s Secret Intelligence Bureau, and in charge of all intelligence operations outside of England. His habit of initialing documents would lead him to be referred to as “C”. This division would, in time, become MI6

April 1, 1875 – Edgar Wallace was born in London. Of his 173 books, his most famous character was J.G. Reeder, a detective who worked with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

April 1, 1906 – veteran character actor Ned Glass was born in Poland

April 1, 1908 - Margaret Scherf was born in Fairmont, WV

April 1, 1931 – The Shadow first appeared in print, eight months after his first appearance on radio

April 1, 1934 - Easter Sunday – Bonnie & Clyde shot down two Texas highway patrol motorcyclists. Public opinion turned swiftly against them

April 1, 1963 – Fleming’s 11th 007 novel, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, was published, and, in 1965, The Man with the Golden Gun was published – the 13th

April 1, 1970 – thriller writer and de-coder Brad Meltzer was born in NY

April 2, 1879 – early Canadian mystery writer Hulbert Footner was born in Hamilton, ONT

April 2, 1914 – Alec Guinness was born in London. Knighted for his long career in acting, he became George Smiley to many with the TV adaptations of John LeCarre’s novels, but he also portrayed Father Brown and a number of interesting and funny criminals in a bunch of Ealing Studio movies – if you’ve never seen the original The Lady Killers, The Lavender Hill Mob or Kind Hearts and Coronets, do yourself a favor and rent ‘em

April 2 – a group from Hollywood: Jack Webb was born (1920 Santa Monica, “Dragnet” was the first ‘realistic’ cop show on TV, running from 1952 to 1959), Toshirō Mifune (1920 Qingdao, China), Barry Sonnenfeld (1953 NYC) and Ali MacGraw (1939 Pound Ridge, NY)

April 2, 1923 - pulp illustrator Mitchell Hooks was born in Detroit

April 2 - Howard Engel was born in Toronto (1931) and Jennifer Rowe was born in Sydney (1948)

April 2, 1965 – Rodney King was born in Sacramento. Sadly, he would gain fame by the filmed beating given to him by the LAPD. He would die too early, only 47

April 3, 1823 - one of the most corrupt politicians of all time (and that’s saying something!) William Marcy “Boss” Tweed was born in NYC

April 3, 1882 – Jesse James was shot in the back, dead at 34

April 3, 1903 – Australian Paul McGuire was born

April 3, 1936 - Reginald Hill was born in West Hartlepool. Prolific is an insufficient term for the creator of Pascoe & Dalziel

April 3, 1936 – Bruno Richard Hauptman was executed

April 3, 1958 – Alec Baldwin was born on Long Island

April 3, 1965 – ‘Secret Agent’ with Patrick McGoohan premiered in the US

And Have a Relaxing and Book-Filled Weekend!

Coming Soon Sunday!!!!

So Excited!!!

Ernest Cline - Armada

It’s just another day of high school for Zack Lightman. He’s daydreaming through another boring math class, with just one more month to go until graduation and freedom—if he can make it that long without getting suspended again.

Then he glances out his classroom window and spots the flying saucer.

At first, Zack thinks he’s going crazy.

A minute later, he’s sure of it. Because the UFO he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.

But what Zack’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

Yet even as he and his new comrades scramble to prepare for the alien onslaught, Zack can’t help thinking of all the science-fiction books, TV shows, and movies he grew up reading and watching, and wonder: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little too…familiar?

Haven't read Ernie's other book? Well get cracking!

Newzine 3.13.15

HAPPY FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH

Big News

We've just gotten confirmation that Dennis Lehane will stop by next Tuesday, March 17, to sign copies of World Gone By, the end of his Coughlin Trilogy.

Time is tight and we must order soon. If you'd like a signed copy, let us know by 8am on Monday March 16.Preferably sooner.

- There will be no chance to get earlier, older copies signed, and since we probably won't know when he will be here until he walks through the door, do not plan on coming to meet him.There will be no time. We'll be busy getting all of the reserves signed!
- Don't assume we'll know you want one! If you don’t ask for one, you won’t get one.
- Let us know if you do or if you want more than one copy!
- Don't wait until Monday!

Good News!

Our fourth wheel is being re-attached to our bookmobile!

Adele has recovered enough to start working again. Initially, she’ll be back to her regular Saturday slot, 10 – 5, and is taking over the Sunday slot, noon – 5.

She’ll be in for different signings (Valentina Giambanco – a book Adele really liked – on Tues the 17^th, and Timothy Williams – whose Italian mysteries she’s liked – on the 18^th) and probably the lunch slot on Fridays, 11-2.

How often she works will, quite bluntly, depend on sales and how many hours we can afford to have her.

Her first day is this coming Sunday, the 15^th.

Come in and see how she’s doing (she’s doing really well!).

Amber put up a selection of Green Books for St. Patrick’s Day.They’re GREEN!

Gift Certificates:

They’re available in Whatever Denomination You Want; They Don’t Expire; You can Order Them by Phone, e-mail or through the Website, and we can Mail them directly to the Recipient if you’d like. Perfect for all sorts of occasions.

Links of Interest:

Erik Larson picksThe Maltese Falcon to be the Wall Street Journal’s March Book Club Read

And here’s a profile of Larson and details about his writing methods and thoughts on the new book about the Lusitania. (Signed copies available in early April – reserve one now!)

Here’s an interview with Danish crime writerJussi Adler-Olsen

Umbert Eco: The Italian author’s latest novel, out in English in November, is about Mussolini, ‘media hoaxes, gossip and murder’

Vatican Says Ransom Sought For Missing Michelangelo Letters

Open and shut case: IsRuth Rendell finally ready to open up about her puzzling personal life?

Are Murderers Born or Made?

Here’s the inside dope on the development of “Better Ask Saul” as a series and Mike Ehrmantraut as a character – an interview with series co-creator  Peter Gould and actor Jonathan Banks

And one man’s opinion: Adrian McKinty Ranks the most Despised Literary Genres

While we specialize in mystery and crime books, we can order virtually any new book that you might want, no matter what its topic.

See the calendar ofall currently-scheduled events on our website. The website calendar contains plot synopses. At the bottom of it is the updated, complete list of signed copies that we’ll be getting from other sources. Click Here.

V. M. Giambanco, March 17 - drop by

Timothy Williams, March 18

Jacqueline Winspear, March 24

J.A. Jance, March 27

Mary Daheim, April 11

Kate Dyer-Seeley, April 18

Greg Iles, April 28

Steve Martini, May 12

Allison Leotta, May 19

Ace Atkins, May 27

Carola Dunn, June 27

Jenny Milchman, July 30

Kevin O’Brien, Aug 1

And there are always more on the way!

Remember, too, that while it is always fun to come in and meet the author in person, that isn’t always possible. So reserve a signed copy to be mailed to you or for you to pick up later. Those who reserve in advance get the copies in the best condition!

______________________________________________________________________________

Word of the Week:

Trick (n.) From the early 15^th C., "a cheat, a mean ruse," from Old North Frenchtrique "trick, deceit, treachery, cheating," fromtrikier "to deceive, to cheat," variant of Old Frenchtrichier "to cheat, trick, deceive," of uncertain origin, probably from Vulgar Latin*triccare, from Latintricari "be evasive, shuffle," fromtricæ "trifles, nonsense, a tangle of difficulties," of unknown origin.
        Meaning "a roguish prank" is recorded from 1580s; sense of "the art of doing something" is first attested 1610s. Meaning "prostitute's client" is first attested 1915; earlier it was U.S. slang for "a robbery" (1865). Todo the trick "accomplish one's purpose" is from 1812; tomiss a trick "fail to take advantage of opportunity" is from 1889; from 1872 in reference to playing the card-game of whist, which might be the original literal sense.Trick-or-treat is recorded from 1942.Trick question is from 1907.  (thanks to etymonline.com)

You can browse our collectable and hard-to-find books, as well as signed copies from earlier author events, on Biblio.com. You do not have to place an order through them, especially if you’re a long-time customer and we have your ordering info. Just email us to order.

________________________________________________________________________________________

What We’ve Been Reading:                       

Fran Recommends:

There are always books we mean to get to...but somehow time gets away from us, there are newer books popping up,look - something shiny!

So it took me until now to finally get to Warren Ellis's Gun Machine (Mulholland, $17.00), and I'm sorry it took me so long! I'd been intrigued by the premise: a locked room filled with guns arranged in an arcane pattern, and the book trailer video - Gun Machine by Warren Ellis (trailer) narrated by Wil Wheaton - cemented my interest.

Gun Machine is about a burned out detective in New York. When John Tallow's partner is killed in a shoot-out on Pearl Street, he should be given leave. But with the discovery of the room filled with guns, Tallow's put in charge of the case, ostensibly because the force is stretched too thin, but possibly to give him a chance to fail completely and be put out to pasture. Because this room is filled with guns, and each one is attached to a specific unsolved murder. There's no way to figure this out, but Tallow is nothing if not bull-headed.

At first glance, it looks like Gun Machine is almost satire becauseWarren Ellis has utilized so many traditional noir tropes - burned out cop, big city, addiction, no-win situation. But with a deft hand and a darkly sardonic sense of humor that actually had me laughing out loud, Ellis lifts John Tallow's story out of the ordinary into something different. It's still "mean streets noir", but Ellis neatly sidesteps all the traditional pitfalls and brings a clear, new voice to a dark, urban tale.

Now I'll grant you, when he relays what's coming across the cop radio what he relates is pretty gruesomely dark, and is at times a bit hard to read. But that so clearly relates why Tallow is the way he is that it's never gratuitous. And the characters that Tallow runs into along the way, including the killer, are fabulously developed, and you know I'm a sucker for great characters! And did I mention the humor?

Gun Machine is a great story, and I'm sorry it took me so long to get to it. However, now that I have, I look forward to everythingWarren Ellis writes, including his Twitter feed - he's that good!

We have two Tumblr blogs, in addition to our regular shop blog:

Hardboiled, maintained by JB – pulp covers, film noir and other images of crime and mystery, and

Reviews and Events – just what it sounds like!

And Have a Relaxing and Book-Filled

SIGNED COPIES AVAILALBE! RESERVE ONE NOW!!

Tues, March 17: Dennis Lehane

drops by to sign copies of his new crime novel.

Reserve a copy by 8am Monday, March 16!

The end of his Boston Trilogy continues with Joe Coughlin older and wiser, a single father, and officially out of the rackets. Not to say he’s out of the world of crime. He’s become a trusted member of The Commission, the governing body of the national organized crime world, working with Lansky, Luciano and those who run Florida. But life is not peaceful and relaxing. There are always those jockeying for power, to move up, to become the boss. Some are reasonable men, business men, and some are just killers. A melancholy and literary slice of noir.

 

1 – Gigi Pandian - The Accidental Alchemist (Midnight Ink)

2 – Jo Nesbø - The Son (Vintage)

3 – Peter May - The Blackhouse (Quercus)

4 – tie
    Ernest Cline - Ready Player One (Broadway)
    Alan Bradley - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Bantam)
    Ben H. Winters - A World of Trouble (Quirk)
    Hazel Holt - Gone Away (Coffeetown Press)

8 – tie
    Terry Hayes - I Am Pilgrim (Atria)
    Cara Black - Murder in the Marais (Soho)
    Craig Johnson - The Cold Dish (Penguin)
    Fred Vargas - The Chalk Circle Man (Penguin)
    Ben H. Winters - The Last Policeman (Quirk)

February TP Bestsellers

1 – Yasmine Galenorn - Panther Prowling (Jove)

2 – tie
    Ingrid Thoft - Identity (Berkley)   
    Ann Rule - Practice to Deceive (Pocket)
    Nevada Barr - Destroyer Angel (St. Martin’s)
    Randy Wayne White - Bone Deep (Berkley)
    Gillian Flynn - Dark Places (Broadway)
    Mike Lawson - The Inside Ring (Atlantic Monthly)

8 – tie
    M.C. Beaton - Death of a Policeman (Quirk)
    Stephen Hunter - Sniper’s Honor (Pocket)
    Joanne Fluke - Blackberry Pie Murder (Kensington)
    Alex Berenson - Counterfeit Agent (Jove)
    Eva Gates - By Book or By Crook (Signet)
    Kate Carlisle - This Old Homicide (Signet)
    Harlan Coben - Missing You (Signet)
    Emily Brightwell - Mrs. Jeffries & the One Who Got Away (Berkley)
    Jenn McKinlay - At the Drop of a Hat (Berkley)

Newzine 3.6.15

Don’t Forget to Jump Ahead this Weekend. It may not look like Spring where you live – we have sun and hay fever, you might have snow and ice – but most of us get to change our clocks for Daylight Saving Time. So you at least get to fake it like it is Spring before you have to go out and shovel the white sh… er, um – snow.

The Spring newsletter is up on the website. There is a glitch with the PDF edition, that will be smoothed out soon we hope. Amber added Kid’s and YA releases and a few more Urban Fantasy titles to the linked newsletter version on our website. Those additional entries are not in either of the other incarnations of the newsletter.

Used Books In!

Another week of used books – Mable Seely, George Bagby, Dorothy B. Hughes, Helen Reilly and Ed McBain. A handful of beautiful Dell Mapbacks, and a smattering of other authors. Lots and lots of great pulp covers throughout all of these runs Let us know if you’re looking for something. Maybe we have it!

Rest In Peace:

Leonard Nimoy - We will miss you!

Gift Certificates:

They’re available in Whatever Denomination You Want; They Don’t Expire; You can Order Them by Phone, e-mail or through the Website, and we can Mail them directly to the Recipient if you’d like. Perfect for all sorts of occasions.

Links of Interest:

Val McDermid gave an interview on her writing history. It may take a while to buffer, but it’s well worth it, and you absolutelymust hear her sing at the end of it!

Did you ever wonder about our fascination with secrets and spies? James Grady looks into it for us.

From LA: Dennis Lehane Drinks in Some Sunlight – life living in LA, writing projects and the end of his historical trilogy

While we specialize in mystery and crime books, we can order virtually any new book that you might want, no matter what its topic.

New Signings(with authors who will be visiting the shop):

Sat, June 27, noon, Carola Dunn signs Superfluous Women (Minotaur hc, $24.99). Daisy travels to the country for lunch with three friends. They’re her age but have been left without the prospect of marriage due to the high number of men killed in the Great War. They’ve bought a house together. The house has a locked wine cellar that they’ve not yet opened. The friends decide to open it – finding no wine but a dead body. 22^nd in this series set in late 1920s England.

Thurs, July 30, noon, Jenny Milchman signs As Night Falls (Ballantine hc, $26.00). Sandy has done her best to remove herself from her parents who ignored her while doting on her brother – a jerk now in prison for life. But one night two convicts invade their home – and one is her brother. Fran recommends this young writer.

Sat, Aug 1, noon, Kevin O’Brien signs No One Needs to Know (Pinnacle pbo, $9.99). Back in the summer of 1970, an actress renting a Seattle mansion was slain along with her husband and their son’s nanny. The child was found buried in a shallow grave near a commune. When the police entered the compound they found all of the residents dead. It was assumed someone among the dead was the killer. Now a film about the murders is being shot on location and, once again, people begin to die amongst the horrible rumors of hauntings and curses.

See the calendar ofall currently-scheduled events on our website. The website calendar contains plot synopses. At the bottom of it is the updated, complete list of signed copies that we’ll be getting from other sources. Click Here.

C.S. Harris, March 7

Leslie Budewitz, March 10

Valentina Gianbanco. March 17

Timothy Williams, March 18

Jacqueline Winspear, March 24

J.A. Jance, March 27

Mary Daheim, April 11

Kate Dyer-Seeley, April 18

Greg Iles, April 28

Steve Martini, May 12

Allison Leotta, May 19

Ace Atkins, May 27

Jenny Milchman, July 30

And there are always more on the way!

Remember, too, that while it is always fun to come in and meet the author in person, that isn’t always possible. So reserve a signed copy to be mailed to you or for you to pick up later. Those who reserve in advance get the copies in the best condition!

______________________________________________________________________________

Word of the Week:

boodle (n.) From 1833, "crowd;" 1858, "phony money," especially "graft money," actual or potential (1883), both American English slang, either or both based on bundle, or from Dutch boedel "property." (thanks to etymonline.com)

You can browse our collectable and hard-to-find books, as well as signed copies from earlier author events, on Biblio.com. You do not have to place an order through them, especially if you’re a long-time customer and we have your ordering info. Just email us to order.

________________________________________________________________________________________

We have three Tumblr blogs, in addition to our regular shop blog:

Books and Decay, maintained by Amber – interesting photos with literary quotes to match

Hardboiled, maintained by JB – pulp covers, film noir and other images of crime and mystery, and

Reviews and Events – just what it sounds like!

And Have a Relaxing and Book-Filled Weekend

February HC Bestsellers

1 - Laurie R. King - Dreaming Spies (Bantam)

2 – Tie:

Burt Weissbourd - Teaser (Rare Bird)
Jayne Ann Krentz - Trust No One (Putnam)
Thomas Perry - String of Beads (Mysterious Press)
Susan Hill - Soul of Discretion (Overlook)
Alan Bradley - As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (Bantam)

7 –Tie:

Mike Lawson - Viking Bay (Blue Rider)
Tessa Arlen - Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman (Minotaur)
Piere Lemaitre - Irene (McLehose)

New Book Corner: Dead Heat

Patricia Briggs - Dead Heat

Amber & Fran are both really excited to read this latest installment!

For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal--or at least it starts out that way...

Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.