The Mystery Writers of America awarded the Edgars last night!
Here are your 2015 winners!
Congrats!!!!
« March 2015 | Main | May 2015 »
April 30, 2015
Independent Bookstore Day! May 2nd
ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT TO PLAN YOUR ROUTE & STRATEGY FOR THE INDIE BOOKSTORE CHALLENGE!
Don't know what the Indie Bookstore challenge is? Read on!
A. For you competative types there is The Bookstore Challenge: Visit all 17 participating bookstores on May 2nd, get their stamps in your passport & turn the passport in at the last bookstore you visit…. And YOU WIN 25% OFF ALL YEAR IN ALL 17 BOOKSTORES! And become an Indie Bookstore Champ!
B. For you less competative types: Visit 3 or more book stores on May 2nd and be entered to win all kinds of great prizes – The Grand Prize is $425 in gift certificates ($25 GC from each of the 17 participating stores, including us!)
C. For those of you who only want to visit us! We will have Blind Date with a Book! Come in and purchase $10 or more & grab a bag of books!
Log your progress (and share your book haul!) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with #SEABookstoreDay.
Participating Bookstores : Book Larder, Eagle Harbor Books, Edmonds Bookshop, Elliott Bay Book Co, Fantagraphics Books, Island Books, Liberty Bay Books, Mockingbird Books, Open Books, Park Place Books, Phinney Books, Queen Anne Books, Ravenna Third Place, Seattle Mystery Bookstore, Secret Garden Books, Third Place Books, University Book Store
April 29, 2015
2015 Ellis Award Shortlists!
The Arthur Ellis Award is given out by the Crime Writers of Canada each year!
Here are three of the categories for you to take a look at, click on this link to see the full list of awards on the CWC website.
Good Luck to all the nominees!
The books which have links are the titles we are able to order!
Best Juvenile/YA Book
Michael Betcherman - Face-Off (Penguin Canada)
Sigmund Brouwer - Dead Man's Switch (Harvest House)
S.J. Laidlaw - The Voice Inside My Head (Tundra Books)
Norah McClintock - About That Night (Orca Book Publishers)
Jeyn Roberts - The Bodies We Wear (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Best 1st Novel
Janet Brons - A Quiet Kill(Touchwood Editions)
Steve Burrows - Siege of Bitterns (Dundurn Press)
M.H. Callway - Windigo Fire (Seraphim Editions)
Eve McBride - No Worst, There Is None (Dundurn Press)
Sam Wiebe - Last of the Independents (Dundurn Press)
Best Novel
Brenda Chapman - Cold Mourning (Dundurn Press)
Barbara Fradkin - None so Blind (Dundurn Press)
C.C. Humphreys - Plague (Doubleday Canada)
Maureen Jennings - No Known Grave (McClelland & Stewart)
Alen Mattich - Killing Pilgrim (House of Anansi)
April 28, 2015
And The Winner Is.....
Congrats to Casey for winning the Mary Higgins Clark Award!
Awarded by the Mystery Writers Of America!
April 26, 2015
Coming Soon Sunday! Middle Grade Edition...
Amber Here: I really enjoyed the first two books of this series, I am sure this one will be just as great!
James Ponti - Dead City: Dark Days
Molly and the Omegas fight to contain the storm unleashed by Operation Blue Moon. As they do, Molly’s personal life is thrown into turmoil when she discovers that one of her closest friends has joined the ranks of the undead, a development that threatens the Omegas as well as Molly’s relationship with her mother.
As Molly and her friends fight the Dead Squad (a special NYPD task force made up entirely of zombies), they discover that the world’s largest gold reserve is kept in a vault eighty feet below the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. They find a photograph of the vault’s construction in the 1920s and realize that the construction crew was led by none other than the leader of the undead, Marek Blackwell. Could this explain the source of all his money? And if so, what is he planning to do with it? Is he rebuilding Dead City…or is he building an undead army?
April 25, 2015
Congratulations, Spotted Owls!
CAIN AND SHAW RECEIVE
2015 SPOTTED OWL AWARDS
Chelsea Cain and Johnny Shaw have been chosen as recipients of the twentieth annual Friends of Mystery Spotted Award. Cain is receiving her award for her book, One Kick, published in August 2014 by Simon & Schuster. Johnny Shaw is receiving his award for his book, Plaster City, published by Thomas & Mercer in April 2014.
The Spotted Owl award was established in 1995 and is given to the best mystery novel of the year by an author who lives in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, British Columbia, Canada, Idaho, Oregon or Washington. Previous winners include Bill Cameron, Earl Emerson, G.M. Ford, Dana Haynes, Mike Lawson, Phil Margolin and Kris Nelscott.
Members of the committee considered 60 novels by authors living in the Pacific Northwest in 2014. Runners up for The Spotted Owl Award were:
#3 – Valerie Geary for Crooked River
#4 – John Straley for Cold Storage Alaska
#5 – Ingrid Thoft for Identity
#6 – Drew Chapman for The Ascendant
#7 – G.M. Ford for Chump Change
#8 – (tie) Robert Dugoni for My Sister’s Grave
Warren Easley for Dead Float
#9 – (tie) Mike Lawson for House Reckoning
Kris Nelscott for Street Justice
The Friends of Mystery is a non-profit literary/educational organization headquartered in Portland, Oregon. For the past 34 years we have presented lectures, organized conferences, and sponsored reading groups. We also publish a regular newsletter. Our purpose is to promote the study, understanding and reading enjoyment of mystery literature.
Newzine 04.24.15
Warning: Greg Iles – The Bone Tree
A word of warning to those who have ordered signed copies of the new Greg Iles - The Bone Tree. This is a very pretty book with a fetching design. The dust jacket is translucent, which allows the sunset on the books cover to glow through. Because of the effect, we’ll not be able to put a dust jacket wrapper on the book. When you handle it, make sure your hands are clean. The dust jacket is of a material that will not allow the removal of smudges, crimps, or fingerprints. Beautiful, but fragile.
Special Project:
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.
INDEPENDENT BOOKTORE DAY! MAY 2ND
Mark you calenders now because you don’t want to miss out! A whole host of great activities for book junkies are happening around the Puget Sound Area!
For you competative types there is The Bookstore Challenge: Visit all 17 participating bookstores on May 2nd, get their stamps in your passport & turn the passport in at the last bookstore you visit…. And YOU WIN 25% OFF ALL YEAR IN ALL 17 BOOKSTORES! And become an Indie Bookstore Champ!
For you less competative types: Visit 3 or more book stores on May 2nd and be entered to win all kinds of great prizes – The Grand Prize is $425 in gift certificates ($25 GC from each of the 17 participating stores, including us!)
For those of you who only want to visit us! We will have Blind Date with a Book! Come in and purchase $10 or more & grab a bag of books!
Links of Interest:
A very sad and disturbing story in the local news:
From the Seattle PI: Charges: Seattle crime writer Ann Rule ripped off by sons
From the Seattle Times: Crime writer Ann Rule’s 2 sons charged with bilking her of $100K
‘Power Of The Dog’ Author Don Winslow Firms Sequel Book And Movie Plans
A highly accomplished political thriller about African-American history from the author of Black Water Rising. Pleasantville by Attica Locke review – murder on the mayoral race
No Demons, No Angels: Attica Locke Aims For Black Characters Who Are Human
The Girl on the Train: how Paula Hawkins wrote ‘the new Gone Girl’
Charles Dickens' desk saved for the nation
Crossing Over: 5 Crime Fiction Authors Who Defy Genre
By the Book: Olin Steinhauer – what makes a good spy novel?
Nice to see the world catching up to JB on the quality of Ross Macdonald’s books:
Revisiting A Suburbia-Gone-Sour In Ross Macdonald's Crime Fiction
“Thirty years in jail for a single hair: the FBI's 'mass disaster' of false conviction: A ‘dirty bomb’ of pseudo-science wrapped up nearly 268 cases – perhaps hundreds more. Now begins the ‘herculean effort to right the wrongs’”
Is Goodfellas the perfect gangster film?
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.
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
Carola Dunn, June 27
Ingrid Thoft, June 30
Roger Hobbs, July 7
Don Winslow, July 9
Yasmine Galenorn, July 11 Drop-by!
Mike Lawson, July 11
Jenny Milchman, July 30
Kevin O’Brien, Aug 1
Richard Kadrey, Aug 25
Yasmine Galenorn, Oct 31
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!
______________________________________________________________________________
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.
Word of the Week:
stall (n.2) A "pretense or evasive story to avoid doing something," 1812, from earlier sense "thief's assistant" (1590s, also staller), from a variant of stale "bird used as a decoy to lure other birds" (mid-15th C.), from Anglo-French estale "decoy, pigeon used to lure a hawk" (13c., compare stool pigeon), literally "standstill," from Old French estal "place, stand, stall," from Frankish *stal- "position," ultimately from Germanic and cognate with Old English steall (see stall (n.1)). Compare Old English stælhran "decoy reindeer," German stellvogel "decoy bird." Figurative sense of "deception, means of allurement" is first recorded 1520s. Also see stall (v.2).
The stallers up are gratified with such part of the gains acquired as the liberality of the knuckling gentlemen may prompt them to bestow. [J.H. Vaux, "Flash Dictionary," 1812]
stall (v.2) From the 1590s, "distract a victim and thus screen a pickpocket from observation," from stall (n.2) "decoy." Meaning "to precaricate, be evasive, play for time" is attested from 1903. Related: Stalled; stalling. Compare old slang stalling ken "house for receiving stolen goods" (1560s). (thanks to etymonline.com)
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What We’ve Been Reading:
Amber Recommends:
My 52 Weeks With Christie: Classics Corner - Georgette Heyer
Adele Recommends:
I’m only ½ the way through but Don Winslow’s The Cartel (July, Knopf hc 27.95), and his followup to Power of the Dog is everything I wanted it to be. Some of you may remember that a while back we put out our wish lists and mine was to have a new Winslow. Boy, has he delivered. JB is reading it now and you can expect a big review from him in the near future. But know that right now, I am pleased as punch!
Signing July 9th at Noon!
Fran Recommends:
You've all probably heard about a book called The Da Vinci Code. It made the news a few years ago. Maybe you remember?
But did you know that in 1998, Katherine Neville wrote a book called The Magic Circle (Ballantine Books, $7.99) that explored a global conspiracy complete with maps and cyphers and religious implications and hidden clues? Before Robert Langdon, there was Ariel Behn.
Ariel works at a nuclear test site in Idaho, but has been away due to the death of her cousin, Sam, who died in an explosion. Ariel is stunned, not only by Sam's death but by the fact that she's the sole heir, and part of what she's inherited seems to be a cache of manuscripts. But no one knows where they are, and suddenly Ariel is at the center of a lot of international attention, including offers to buy the manuscripts unseen. But a mysterious phone call convinces her to keep the manuscripts safe - if she can ever find them - and to try to figure out just what makes them so important.
The Magic Circle spans time from the fall of ancient Rome through the life of Jesus and well into the late 20th century. It's got a massive scope and a complex, convoluted and decidedly twisty plot. Like Dan Brown's massive hit, there are some parts that are a bit eye-rolling, but Katherine Neville writes such a great, dense story that it's easy enough to overlook the more out-there moments. And there aren't many of them, truthfully.
But what I loved was the tight interweaving of history and Ariel's family's story, and all the visual clues that are included in the book. You get cyphers and maps and all manner of visual clues, which just add to the richness of the story. I also loved the Native American influence, which isn't something you normally find in these global conspiracy sorts of stories. It took me a long time to finally get to The Magic Circle, but I'm definitely glad I did!
JB Recommends:
Yowza! A rollercoaster! A page turner! A thrill ride!
Pick what you want, they all fit Steve Martini’s new thriller, The Enemy Inside (Morrow hc, $27.99). After a number of international thrillers, Paul Madriani is back to practicing law with his partner, Harry Hinds, in the San Diego area. After recent escapades – two years on the run from a Mexican killer - they need to start making some money, so Harry is understandably alarmed when Paul agrees to defend a friend of his daughter’s. It appears to be a simple car accident where the other driver was killed. Not much to fill their banks account.
Of course, we’re in the land of crime novels so nothing is so clear or simple or easy. So begins a screamer of a story that deals with international schemes over energy, massive corruption of elected officials, assassins and, I have to say, a truly inspired and creepy method of murder.
You see the story from many view points – Madriani’s are narrated in first person, present tense, as always; the assassin is following the action, trying to get back a piece of unique equipment before the people “testing” it give away the game and the authorities follow it back to her; a man of many names, yet no set name, who pulls the strings as any insidious puppet master would, making the powerful of the country jump to his tune; and a Chinese general who has the patience to play a subtler game.
All of it moves around in a delicate dance due to one guy who has hidden away a trove of evidence of the malfiesense. Anything happens to him and everyone burns – but how to get the documents? Who knows what he has but everyone is frightened by the possibilities.
In the midst of this are Paul and Harry, trying to find out what happened in that car wreck and find a way to defend their client.
This is a timely book, full of cynicism about corruption, our elected officials stashing mountains of money off-shore, and how we are our own worst enemies. “The bomb that was killing the United States was not hydrogen, atomic, or neutron. It was either stupidity, corrupt leadership, or both.”
Indeed. The true enemy is within.
Steve will be driving down from the north side of the State to sign books on Tuesday May 12th at Noon.
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!
On This Date:
April 25, 1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine
April 25, 1907 –Sherlockian scholar and short story writer Michael Harrison was born in Kent
April 25, 1915 – pulp writer Richard Deming was born in Iowa
April 25, 1939 – DC Comics releases Detective Comics #27 – first appearance of ‘The Batman’
April 26, 1564 – Master of Murder William Shakespeare was baptized.
April 26, 1916 – Grand Master of Mystery Dorothy Salisbury Davis was born in Chicago
April 26, 1958 – Giancarlo Esposito (Prime Suspects and “Breaking Bad”) was born in Copenhagen
April 27, 1667 – The blind and impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10
April 27, 1907 – the prolific short story writer James Holding was born in Pittsburgh
April 27, 1922 – Jack Klugman was born in Philadelphia
April 28, 1906 – award-winning French mystery writer Pierre Boileau was born in Paris
April 28, 1919 – mystery writer Anna Clarke was born in Cape Town
April 28, 1960 – modern master Ian Rankin was born in Fife (Scotland, not Washington!)
April 29, 1875 – early thriller and adventure writer Rafael Sabatini was born in Italy
April 29, 1937 – continuer of Lord Peter Wimsey, Jill Paton Walsh was born in London
April 29, 1938 – future financial monster Bernie Madoff was born in Queens
April 29, 1939 - Katherine V. Forrest was born in Ontario
April 29, 1949 – John Trenhaile was born in Hertford
April 29, 1950 – Australian director Phillip Noyce was born
April 29, 1957 – the aforementioned Daniel Day-Lewis was born in London
April 29, 1970 – a killer with a sword, Uma Thurman was born in Boston
April 29, 1926 – the great Cloris Leachman was born in Des Moines, IA
April 29, 1992 – LA erupts in riots after a jury acquits 4 cops in the Rodney King trial
April 30, 1823 – future publisher Henry Oscar Houghton was born in Sutton, VT
April 30, 1949 – the great thriller writer James Grady was born in Montana.
April 30, 1950 – film noir classic D.O.A. premiered
April 30, 1975 – “Starsky and Hutch” premiered
And Have a Relaxing and Book-Filled Weekend!
April 24, 2015
My 52 Weeks With Christie: Classic Corner - Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer
B: August 16, 1902 Wimbledon, England - D: July 4, 1974 - London, England
Life & Writing
Heyer’s career started at seventeen by telling a series of stories to her sick younger brother to entertain him. Her father, who was a writer himself, enjoyed hearing them and eventually asked her to write them down so she could have them published. Over the years Heyer dabbled in different genres: mystery, contemporary, Georgian, but what she is best known for is her Regency Romance novels. A fan of Jane Austen and her world, Heyer became an expert in this time period due to her meticulous research for her novels. While she thought much of what she wrote was fluffy, she knew they were popular escapist literature. Couple this knowledge with having a husband (plus two brothers and the odd aunt) to support she continued writing them.
During her career, one rather interesting stance took root, one which I find absolutely astounding in this day and age of rampant social media - her refusal to promote her books in any fashion. This attitude came about through her staunch belief that her life was her own and should not be open to her fans or critics to intrude on (the same struggle that today’s celebrities face). The General Strike in 1926 solidified her thoughts on the uselessness of publicity. These Old Shades, released during the strike, received no coverage in the media and still sold a decent number of copies. So in 1926, five-ish years after beginning her career, she refused to grant any further interviews or do any personal promotion for her publishers, maintaining her books sold just fine without it and was a waste of time - she stuck to her guns for the rest of her days.
While she did not go in for self promotion, her books were still wildly popular - even the Queen & her household are rumored to be fans! What I find interesting is the fact that she wrote over 50 books, founded the Regency Romance subgenre and put historicals on the map, but she was universally ignored by the book world. Deemed to be just a “genre” writer (a term which I find absolutely pompous and condescending), her books were never critically reviewed in any major publications and when she died in 1974 from lung cancer (she smoked 60-80 cigarettes a day, which is wow) Encyclopedia Britannica failed to mention her at all. This lack of recognition never seem to bother Heyer; the only thing that counted was that her books continued to sell in ever increasing numbers.
“As soon as one promises not to do something, it becomes the one thing above all others that one most wishes to do” - Venetia
Books
Detective: Superintendent Hannasyde
1st in Series: Death In The Stocks Last: A Blunt Instrument
No. of Books In Series: 4
Detective: Inspector Hemingway (overseen by the above Superintendent)
1st in Series: No Wind Of Blame Last: Detection Unlimited
No. of Books In Series: 4
Stand Alone Mysteries: 4
Other Works: 42
Short Stories & Essays: 17
Setting: All in England (as far as I know)
I must admit a bit of a fan of Heyer’s mysteries (now). They were a collaborative effort, her husband wrote a bare bones outline while Heyer did the heavy lifting of fleshing them out. Towards the end of the book, it is rumored, she would ask her husband to re-explain the ending he’d sketched out so she could write them correctly. The sales of her mysteries never came close to the popularity of her historicals, but the numbers were respectable enough that she kept turning them out.
What I find interesting is the fact her mysteries have been widely lampooned by critics over the years, with complaints that her plots are unoriginal, filled with stereotypical characters and used the same motive for 58% of them. True. But, and I must stress this, they are pretty good. I wonder if the critics were being overly harsh on Heyer’s books because they were comparing them to others being published at the time - the four Queens of Crime, Sayers, Christie, Allingham and Marsh - were at the heights of their careers (generally speaking) publishing startlingly new twists, codifying the golden age of detective fiction and generally being brilliant. These were the authors Heyer was releasing against and, to be fair, many authors would fall flat by comparison to these ladies (and btw Heyer’s mysteries are better than some of Christie’s doozies like Passenger To Frankfurt or The Mystery of the Blue Train).
What I enjoyed was exactly what grates on the critics' nerves: her characters' interactions, irreverence and humor. No, Heyer’s mysteries never won an award and some of what the critics accuse her of is true - however they are still highly entertaining reading and I don’t think I wasted a moment that I’ve invested in her books. And I feel compelled to point out that a book does not have to be bleak, dramatic or revel in the human condition to be worth reading - you simply must enjoy it for it to be worthy of your time and Heyer is definitely worth my time!
My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2015
April 23, 2015
Independent Bookstore Day! May 2nd
THE BIG DEAL - The Indie Bookstore Challenge!
Three Ways To Win Big!
1. Seattle area bookstores have joined together to crown the most dedicated of their customers Indie Bookstore Champs by creating a bookstore day trip. Indie Bookstore Champs will WIN 25% OFF ALL YEAR AT ALL 17 PARTICIPATING BOOKSTORES!*
Here’s how you can be an Indie Bookstore Champ:
A. Pick up a bookstore passport at any of the 17 participating stores on May 2nd.
B. Visit ALL 17 stores on May 2nd and get their unique stamp on your passport.
C. Turn your passport in at the last store of your daytrip and be entered to win!
2. Can’t make it to all bookstores? Visit three or more and be entered to win gift cards, first edition books, and more! Grand prize is $425 in gift certificates! ($25 gift certificate to each of the 17 participating stores) Drawing will be held on May 7th. Winners will be notified by email.
3. For those of you who only want to visit us! We will have Blind Date with a Book! Come in and purchase $10 or more & grab a bag of books!
(YAY! Blind Date With A Book is back!)
Log your progress (and share your book haul!) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with #SEABookstoreDay.
Participating Bookstores : Book Larder, Eagle Harbor Books, Edmonds Bookshop, Elliott Bay Book Co, Fantagraphics Books, Island Books, Liberty Bay Books, Mockingbird Books, Open Books, Park Place Books, Phinney Books, Queen Anne Books, Ravenna Third Place, Seattle Mystery Bookstore, Secret Garden Books, Third Place Books, University Book Store
PLUS MUCH MUCH MORE!
April 21, 2015
April 19, 2015
Coming Soon Sunday!!
Naomi Novik - Uprooted
Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.
Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.
The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows--"everyone" knows--that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn't, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.
But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.
This was a fantastic read!
April 18, 2015
Newzine 04.17.15
INDEPENDENT BOOKTORE DAY! MAY 2ND
Mark you calenders now because you don’t want to miss out! A whole host of great activities for book junkies are happening around the Puget Sound Area! (for more info check out their FB or Twitter page or our calendar!)
For you competative types there is The Bookstore Challenge: Visit all 17 participating bookstores on May 2nd, get their stamps in your passport & turn the passport in at the last bookstore you visit…. And YOU WIN 25% OFF ALL YEAR IN ALL 17 BOOKSTORES! And become an Indie Bookstore Champ!
For you less competative types: Visit 3 or more book stores on May 2nd and be entered to win all kinds of great prizes – The Grand Prize is $425 in gift certificates ($25 GC from each of the 17 participating stores, including us!)
For those of you who only want to visit us! We will have Blind Date with a Book! Come in and purchase $10 or more & grab a bag of books!
If you’re a local mystery fan, here’s something different to do for entertainment:
An Evening of Murder with storyteller Larry Hohm
Thurs, May 7, 7:30pm, Black Dog Café, 8062 Railroad Ave SE, Snoqualmie
Mr. Hohm will be reading from Ruth Rendell, Bill Pronzini, and others. No reservations are required, no entrance fee (donations suggested), dinner and drinks available.
Links of Interest:
Seattle is home to great authors and – obviously – bookstores!
Alan Turing's notebook sold for $1m in New York auction
Spoiler alert! Or how to avoid them
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):
Tues, June 30, noon, local writer Ingrid Thoft signs Brutality (Putnam hc, $26.95). In her 3rd appearance, Boston PI Fina Ludlow accepts a case outside of the family firm. A former soccer star was attacked and left hospitalized. She’d been suing her college, charging them will neglect that left her with cognitive brain injuries. Was she attacked to stop the legal action? Adele highly recommends this author.
Tues, July 7, noon, Roger Hobbs signs Vanishing Games (Knopf hc, $25.95) In the South China Sea, three experienced pirates are sent to intercept a smuggler and take a bag of sapphires worth a fortune. On board the boat, one finds a treasure they weren’t told about and the simple heist goes wrong and bloody. The woman who set up the crime wants the one survivor found and answers. She reaches out to the one guy who can do that and who won’t turn her down – the Ghostman.
Thurs, July 9, noon - Don Winslow signs The Cartel (Knopf hc, $26.95), sequel to his opus Power of the Dog. In 2004, the former leader of the entire Mexican drug universe is doing time in a US prison, Mexican cartels have carved up his world and exist in a tenuous peace, while former DEA agent Art Keller, the man who captured him, is tending bees in a NM monastery. All of the peace is shattered when the patron, Adan Barrera, arranges to be transferred to a Mexican prison.
Sat, October 31, noon, Yasmine Galenorn signs Autumn Thorns (Jove pbo, $7.99) In an all-new series, Yasmine Galenorn invites readers to Whisper Hollow, where spirits walk among the living and the lake never gives up her dead. “Fifteen years ago, I ran away from Whisper Hollow, Washington, a small town on Crescent Lake in the Olympic Peninsula. But truth is, if you were born here, you can never really leave. I'm Kerris Fellwater, and when I returned, I inherited my grandmother's house--and her gift. As a spirit shaman, it's my responsibility to drive the dead back to their graves, because around Whisper Hollow, people--and secrets--don't always stay buried.
When I was little, I was told my mother ran off. But now it looks like she was murdered. With the help of my mysterious neighbor Bryan, we begin to unravel the mystery of her disappearance, and in doing so, unearth a dark force seeking to bury Whisper Hollow. Now I must work with the dead, rather than against them, because our enemy will do whatever she can to destroy the town, and she means to start with me.”
[A Reminder: Reserving ahead of time – such as in next few days – is HIGHLY recommended. For the most part, we’ll be ordering only enough for those who reserve. You don’t have to pay until you pick it up or we mail it. Ask us to hold a copy for you!]
Signed Copies to Reserve (the authors will not be here for a formal signing or we’ll be getting the copies from other sources):
Yasmine Galenorn - Flight From Death (Berkley, pb, $7.99) Drop By Signing on Saturday July 11th This is set in Yasmine’s popular “Otherworld” world, but it has nothing to do with her ongoing series. So far…
“I'm Shimmer, a blue dragon shifter. Thanks to a mistake, I was exiled from the Dragon Reaches and sentenced to work for Alex Radcliffe, a vampire who owns the Fly by Night Magical Investigations Agency. Now, not only do I have to adapt to Earthside culture, but every time I turn around, somebody's trying to kill us. And worse, Alex is as gorgeous as he is exasperating. But you know what they say: All's fair in love and bounty hunting... When an old friend of Alex contacts him about a haunting at the High Tide Bed & Breakfast in Port Townsend, Washington, we think we're on a simple ghost hunt. But our investigation quickly transforms into a deadly fight as we uncover an eighty-year-old murder, a cursed house, and a dark force trapping the spirits within. To stop impending disaster we must break the curse and lay the angry spirits to rest.”
[Quantities of signed copies for these books will be very limited. Reserving ahead of time – such as in next few days – is HIGHLY recommended. For the most part, we’ll be ordering only enough for those who reserve. You don’t have to pay until you pick it up or we mail it. Ask us to hold a copy for you!]
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.
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
Roger Hobbs, July 7
Don Winslow, July 9
Yasmine Galenorn, July 11 Drop-by!
Carola Dunn, June 27
Mike Lawson, July 11
Jenny Milchman, July 30
Kevin O’Brien, Aug 1
Richard Kadrey, Aug 25
Yasmine Galenorn, Oct 31
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!
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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.
Word of the Week:
stool pigeon (n.) A "police informer," 1859, American English; earlier "one who betrays the unwary (or is used to betray them)," 1821, originally a decoy bird (1812); said to be from decoys being fastened to stools to lure other pigeons. But perhaps related to stall "decoy bird" (c. 1500), especially "a pigeon used to entice a hawk into the net". (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.
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What We’ve Been Reading:
Amber Recommends:
My 52 Weeks With Christie: Classics Corner - Margery Allingham
Book: Kate Locke - God Save The Queen (Orbit hc, $16.99)
Genere: Steampunk, Mystery & Creatures
Would I Recommend? Hells Yes!
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary: It is 2012 and Queen Victoria still reigns supreme…175 years on. You see when the plague ripped through the population of London (you know the one blamed on rats) a genetic mutation occurred in the aristocracy causing a slightly different royal disease to occur (instead of hemophilia). The mutation caused them to become vampires, werewolves or goblins.
More importantly to our story it also indirectly created half-bloods, children of aristocrats and humans. Who since they are more than a human but less than a full blood are given the job of protecting the aristos; the very best are in the Royal Guard. Enter our intrepid hero Xandra Vardan, a halvie in said guard who is very good at her job. So when her sister Dede goes missing Xandra is more than willing to chase after her. Which leads down the rabbit hole of conspiracies, medical experimentation, assassination and betrayal.
Review: It is not often that a book matches its’ cover - either they are to bland, totally misrepresent what the book is about or for some inexplicable reason contains a spoiler! (Agatha Christie covers I notice are notorious in spoiler flaws) And as a bookseller I am forever telling people not to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it just happens - even to the best of us! In this case it was so absolutely grand! The characters are colorful, the mystery fast paced & twisty and no one is really safe! Seriously the best word to describe this book is FUN!
Xandra is an odd combination of temper, snark and impatience who walks a very fine line with the reader, skating just this side of the line of being consumed by said flaws which would have rendered her (and subsequently the book) unreadable. However Locke does a great job in balancing her, keeping her someone we can root for through the entire story. This is what I really enjoyed about this book, no character is all bad or all good - everyone is a mix. While you and/or Xandra may loath or despise someone, there is always something which keeps them from being completely repugnant. Being able to keep this balance is difficult but Locke does a great job, which allows everyone in the book to have a surprising amount of depth.
Locke also does a great job in resolving the mystery presented in God Save The Queen while giving tantalizing hints of a much larger and sinister conspiracy in which Xandra finds herself at the heart of. Which is why I went out and immediately purchased the next two books in this series!
I am not sure this book will ever win an award - however it will keep you thoroughly entertained and is well worth reading for the sheer sake of fun.
My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2015
JB Recommends:
The only good thing about air travel any more is that you do get plenty of time to read. Otherwise…
Craig Johnson’s Dry Bones (Viking hc, $27.95) was a joy, just like all of his other books. This one seems to be a bridge book. He’s taking us and the characters somewhere else, somewhere darker, I think, in a book to come. It all has to do with a certain knife-wielding hotshot from a couple of books ago – and I’ll leave it there.
Dry Bones puts Walt and crew into the legal thicket of invaluable archeological finds and who has rights to them versus who lays claims to them. The book opens with an oddly comic scene at a fishinghole with Omar throwing rocks at turtles. It fairly quickly turns serious and the story continues to ricochet between the two – as only Craig can pull off – for the remainder of the book. All of the usual suspects are here – Henry, Lonnie, Dog, Cady, Vic, Lucien - as well as some too long missing – Double Tough, Chief Long, Omar as mentioned. There’s a mix of new folks who are peppered in with the regulars as the population of Absaroka County gets continually filled in.
There’s ear-splitting thunder storms, truck-denting hail, flash floods, childhood memories of an abandoned mine, and self-doubting questions of spirits in the storms.
Boy Howdy. Makes me want to start re-reading them all again, for the fourth time.
Signing - Sat, June 20, noon.
On the other hand, Mike Lawson’s House Rivals takes DeMarco far out of his comfort zone (really, if he even has one) and plants him down in the upper Great Plains. Mahoney’s sent him West to help the granddaughter of an old war buddy. She’s fighting the corruption fostered by a slippery rich guy who is into “energy extraction”.
DeMarco, of course, understands nothing about what is going on – except for the corruption. Joe understands that very well.
Pretty quickly, things get ugly and it becomes a personal crusade for him. The fun is watching him shake things up with his “own” FBI agent intow and aghast at his antics. When your boss is John Mahoney, a guy can pretty much do what he thinks is right, and DeMarco’s sense of justice is his guide, and it’s as sharp and sure as ever.
To some extent, DeMarco is up against his polar opposites – fixers who work for the tycoon. The reason DeMarco understands the corruption is that what they do is not so far from what he does, and that is the moral edge of the book. There are a few times in the story where others refer to DeMarco as a thug and he resents it. He doesn’t see himself as one. So the question becomes is corruption in the eye of the beholder? I don’t think so, I don’t think Lawson or DeMarco think so, but it is an interesting and dangerous knife edge. Glad DeMarco is our guide.
If there’s one fault to the book – and, really, there isn’t – is that Emma does not appear in the story. I don’t think I’m giving anything away. There’s really no place for her this time out.
But, Mike – you owe us a mess of Emma in the next story.
House Rivals (Atlantic Monthly hc, $25) is the 10th in the DeMarco series, as fine and smooth a series of thrillers as you are ever going to find. Though Mike lives here in Seattle, the series is based in DC. Looking for a confident and cynical series of books about how power is used and abused in American? Read Mike Lawson. Now. They’re a hellovalotta fun.
Signing – Sat, July 11, noon.
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!
On This Date:
April 18, 1857 – Defense attorney Clarence Darrow was born in Ohio
April 18, 1891 – Future Los Angeles crime boss Jack Dragna was born in Corleone, Sicily
April 18, 1902 – Denmark was the first nation to adopt fingerprinting as a legal means of identifying criminals
April 18, 1922 – Barbara Hale (TV’s Della Street, Perry Mason’s secretary) was born in Dekalb, IL
April 18, 1938 – The first issue of “Action Comics” hits the newsstands and, faster than a speeding bullet, Superman flies into the American imagination
April 18, 1947 – Sometimes good guy, sometimes bad guy – but always great - James Woods was born in Vernal, UT
April 18, 1983 – Jack Reacher was injured in the Beirut embassy bombing
April 19, 1869 – Melville Davisson Post was born. His Uncle Abner was one of the earliest and best amateur American sleuths in fiction. A reoccurring character, the shyster Randolph Mason, lends his name years later to another fictional lawyer with the first name Perry
April 19, 1902 – Harold Blundell was born in Heywood, Lancashine. He wrote prolifically as George Bellairs
April 19, 1903 – Future Untouchable leader Eliot Ness was born in – where else - Chicago
April 19, 1946 – The Blue Dahlia, screenplay by Raymond Chandler, premiered
April 19, 1952 – Military officer, essayist and analyst Ralph Peters was born. He wrote a superb series of Civil War mysteries under the pen name Owen Parry
April 19, 1967 – The James Bond spoof Casino Royale premiered with David Niven as Sir James Bond
April 19, 1995 – American-born terrorists in the heartland: Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City… difficlut to believe it’s been 20 years!
April 20, 1941 – actor Ryan O’Neal was born in LA
April 20, 1949 – Jessica Lange was born in Cloquet, MN. We include her for role in The Postman Always Rings Twice.
April 20, 1999 – Columbine. More American-born terrorists
April 21, 1861 – Sir Basil Thomson was born in Oxford. Not only did he serve as a diplomat, governor of Dartmoor Prison and head of the Scotland Yard’s CID division during The Great War, he also wrote mysteries
April 21, 1907 – David Alexander was born in Shelbyville, KY
April 21 – Three great and popular British writers: Gladys Mitchell (1901, Cowley, Oxford), Alistair MacLean (1922, Glasgow – though April 28th is also cited) and John Mortimer (1923, London)
April 22, 1707 – Future co-founder of the Bow Street Runners, novelist and magistrate Sir Henry Fielding was born
April 22, 1891 – Ferdinando Nicola Sacco was born. He and Vanzetti commited the robbery that sent them to their execution in 1920
April 22, 1912 – Bram Stoker died
April 22, 1931 – Canadian writer Ted Wood was born in England
April 22, 1937 – Jack Nicholson was born in NYC. Chinatown comes 37 years later
April 22, 1940 – Edgar winner William Hefffernan was born in New Haven
April 22, 1943 – Janet Evanovich was born
April 22, 1948 – “Barney Blake, Police Reporter” premieres on NBC and the network will claim it was the first regularly scheduled crime series on TV
April 22, 1966 – Jeffery Dean Morgan was born in Seattle. Watchmen comes about forty years later
April 23, 1895 – Edith Ngaio Marsh was in New Zealand. In 1942, at age 47, she published her first of 32 Insp. Roderick Alleyn mysteries
April 23, 1901 – Early hard-boiled writer and MWA Grand Master George Harmon Coxe was born
April 23 – Two classic crime movies premiered: Public Enemy (1931) and Touch of Evil (1958)
April 23, 1934 – The Dillinger gang shot it out with the Feds at the Little Bohemia Resort in Manitowish Waters, WI
April 23, 1937 - Convict and Edgar-winner E. Richard Johnson was born in Printice, WI
April 23, 1939 – Future $6 million man Lee Majors was born in Wyandotte, MI
April 23, 1968 – Timothy McVeigh was born. He was just past his 27th birthday when he blew up the Murrah Building
And Have a Relaxing and Book-Filled Weekend!
April 17, 2015
Classic Corner: Margery Allingham
Margery Allingham
B:May 20, 1904 - London, England - D: June 30, 1966 - Essex, England
Life & Writing
A fourth generation writer, Allingham became a professional writer at the tender age of eight (wow) when she was published by her aunt. She studied drama and speech in school (to help overcome a childhood stutter) but continued to write. While she found artistic fulfillment in her novel writing, early on in her career she still needed to write on spec & commission to earn her daily bread. The main issue here is that these pieces were subjected to editorial scrutiny and change - which is never any fun!
Then she and her readers were introduced to a Mr. Albert Campion in 1929 in The Crime of The Black Dudley - the one and only time Campion was relegated to a minor role. He might have remained there had he not caught Allingham and her editor’s eye and both decided they liked him so much he became her main protagonist! Entertainingly enough, in Campion’s early career is thought to be a tongue-in-cheek homage Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L. Sayers. Similar to Wimsey, Campion is the younger son of a noble family (though Campion is somewhere in line for the throne) which he is estranged from (due to an aunt’s “corrupting influence”) who finds himself in situations where solving the mystery at hand is important. (Random Fact: it is rumored that Sayers and Allingham lived half mile from each other for a good portion of their adult lives - however they supposedly moved in very different circles and didn’t meet often). However Campion quickly grew out of Wimsey’s shadow and established his own reputation and place in the golden age of mysteries.
With Campion as her break-out character, Allingham was able to focus more on her artistic endeavors, while taking on commissioned pieces only when she wanted. She continued to write up until her death in 1966 from breast cancer.
“There are, fortunately, very few people who can say that they have actually attended a murder.” - Death Of A Ghost
Books
Main Detective: Albert Campion
1st in Series: The Crime At The Black Dudley (1929) Last: Mind Readers (1965)
(There is a bit of grey area here - the above are the 1st and last written by Allingham herself. Her husband completed her book Cargo of Eagles (at her request) which was unfinished at the time of her death. He then went on to write two more books in the series before he passed away in 1969 - leaving his own unfinished Albert Campion novel. It was stuck in a drawer until 2014 when Mike Ripley - who is evidently a huge fan of the series - completed it at the behest of the Allingham Society. His book was so well received that Ripley was allowed to write his own Campion novel, Mr. Campion's Fox slated to be released this June! So the number of novels & where you'd say the series ended is, well, a bit squishy - so I stuck with the books completed by the great lady herself!)
No. of Books In Series: 18 novels & 22 short stories Setting: UK primarily
A Strange Coincidence
A plot spoiler below if you’ve not read Traitor’s Purse.
Did you know that Lord Byron originally coined the phrase, the truth is stranger than fiction? It has been updated over the years to fit our current concept of grammar but Byron’s quote from Don Juan still holds true. I think it is the only way to explain how not one but two mystery authors stumbled onto and unknowingly exposed government secrets - both English & German - in the same year!
In 1941 the world was smack in the middle of WWII and two Queens of Crime penned novels patriotic in theme. Christie wrote N or M which put MI5’s knickers in a twist when she named one of her main characters Major Bletchley. They were afraid she knew something about the code breaking activity at Bletchley Park and was baiting the government about it. As it turns out she spent a frustrating afternoon in the Bletchley train station and took her revenge on it by naming her least likable character after it. Much to the relief of all.
In strange twist, Margery Allingham also exposed a government plot in her 1941 book Traitor’s Purse - only in this case it was a German conspiracy! I kid you not! Campion discovered a plot to distribute counterfeit currency in order to tank the English economy, so that her allies will no long want to do business with her because the currency is worthless thus making it that little bit easier for England to fall to the Germans.
This was the similar line of reasoning used in real life by the Germans when they set up Operation Bernhard, a State sponsored counterfeit ring. They started planning the operation in 1939 but were really in the swing of things by 1942 when they had printed just shy of 9 million notes with a face value of around 135 million pounds in 5, 10, 20 & 50 pound notes. While 9 million is a startling number, the actual number of bills which posed a real threat to the country was much smaller. The Germans had a difficult time in the beginning replicating the paper the currency was printed on (due to wartime shortages), inks and engraving plates (they drew from the concentration camps for their forging labor force, so the learning curve to create convincing counterfeits was steep). But eventually they got things sorted out and were ready to distribute their fakes into England.
There was a fly in the ointment however; the plan which Himmler was rumored to favor, was to have the Luftwaffe drop the notes over major cities in England. The Germans theorized that the Bank of England’s credibility would be completely undermined if they refused to honor currency by claiming that it was counterfeit - since the fakes were what we now call Super Bills - fakes so convincing only banks & experts could suss them out. The problem came when Goering told the Himmler’s SS that the Luftwaffe no longer had enough aircraft to carry out this type of operation, forcing them to shift tactics and supply their agents with the fake money to launder. Which was a lot less efficient method of distribution!
(an example of one of the forged notes.)
There was another problem which the Germans were unaware of.....Allied spies reported the conspiracy in 1939! So the Bank of England took measures to counteract this particular German effort. In 1940, they created a special blue 1 pound note with a metallic thread in it to raising the difficulty level of forging it, thereby discouraging any counterfeiting efforts. By 1943, the Bank Of England had also stopped issuing any bill above a 5 pound note - seriously - plus they slowly removed all of the higher bills out of circulation. Both of these efforts helped to stem the tide of the fake money making its way into economy. Because the government knew of Operation Bernhard, they were able to identify enemy operatives by - you guessed it - their possession of large numbers of these bills! Thus significantly hindering their planned method of dispersal. (The other factor which saved the English economy was the pressure the Allies were putting on the German front - which made them move the operation several times which caused massive disruptions.)
By 1945, Operation Bernhard was abandoned, presses were dismantled and crates of currency destroyed (the laborers from the concentration camps fared better as they revolted and the camp they were being held in was soon liberated!). Well, the equipment was sort of destroyed. It is theorized that the Germans dumped the remaining crates of currency, presses and plates in Lake Toplitz in the Austrian Alps. Divers did recover a bit of money from the lake, but nothing on the scale which Nazi records indicated that they printed. And this is where we see the birth of all kinds of fiction/conspiracy of lost Nazi gold/wealth. Because it is extremely difficult to extract anything from this particular lake (which is probably why it was chosen). Why you ask? (well you may not have asked, but you’ve stuck with me this far!) The lake’s maximum depth is 103m however after 20m there is no oxygen, which means when things sink in the lake, they don’t decay. Which would be great for treasure hunters since there is a good chance that these bills would be in at least o.k. shape. The sticky wicket here is the fact that there is a layer of sunken un-decayed trees/logs half way down in the lake, which makes it difficult and/or impossible to explore the bottom of the lake. Many divers over the years have perished trying to map the bottom by getting tangled up by them.
While Christie's encounter with MI5 is well documented, I couldn’t find any information on if Allingham’s Traitor’s Purse caused any kind of kerfuffle among the Nazi brass when it published. She obviously had a really plausible plot and a better way of distributing the fake cash (in my opinion) than the Nazis did - it's a good thing they didn't have more time to consider her (sort of) suggestion! I would have loved to have been fly on the wall in that meeting when/if the Nazis became aware of Allingham’s book...She might have made them sweat!
My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2015
April 16, 2015
Independent Bookstore Day! May 2nd
Mark you calendars now because you don’t want to miss out! A whole host of great activities around the Puget Sound Area! (for more info check out their FB or Twitter page or our here!)
For you competative types there is The Bookstore Challenge: Visit all 17 participating bookstores on May 2nd, get their stamps in your passport & turn the passport in at the last bookstore you visit…. And YOU WIN 25% OFF ALL YEAR IN ALL 17 BOOKSTORES! And become an Indie Bookstore Champ!
For you less competative types: Visit 3 or more book stores on May 2nd and be entered to win all kinds of great prizes – The Grand Prize is $425 in gift certificates ($25 GC from each of the 17 participating stores!)
For those of you who only want to visit us! We will have Blind Date with a Book! Come in and purchase $10 or more & grab a bag of books!
(We love SMB Blind Date With A Book Bags!)
Participating Bookstores : Book Larder, Eagle Harbor Books, Edmonds Bookshop, Elliott Bay Book Co, Fantagraphics Books, Island Books, Liberty Bay Books, Mockingbird Books, Open Books, Park Place Books, Phinney Books, Queen Anne Books, Ravenna Third Place, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, Secret Garden Books, Third Place Books, University Book Store
April 15, 2015
Don Winslow Signing!
Thursday July 9th at Noon!
Don Winslow signs The Cartel (Knopf hc, $26.95): Sequel to his opus Power of the Dog: In 2004, the former leader of the entire Mexican drug universe is doing time in a US prison, former DEA agent Art Keller, the man who captured him, is tending bees in a NM monastery, and Mexican cartels have carved up his world and exist in a tenuous peace. All of the peace is shattered when the patron, Adan Barrera, arranges to be transferred to a Mexican prison. Unprecedented violence and chaos erupts.
- to be picked up at the signing
- to be picked up later, after the signing
- to be mailed to you anywhere on the planet!
April 14, 2015
April 13, 2015
Newzine!
Help Please!
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.
Rest In Peace:
James Best - who was best known for his role as Roscoe P. Coltrane on “The Dukes of Hazzard” – passed away on April 6th at the age of 88 after a brief illness. While his best known role was the Hazzard County Sheriff, he was also in “The Andy Griffith Show” and “The Virginian”, and acted along side Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Stewart in films. Best also taught acting at U of Mississippi and U of Central Florida and in Hollywood - claiming students like Clint Eastwood, Farrah Fawcett and Quentin Taranitino. He will be missed.
You might not recognize Geoffrey Lewis’s name, but if you watched television from the 60’s through 2012, you’ve probably seen Geoffrey Lewis, born July 31, 1935, and who passed away on the 7th of this month. He was a talented character actor, and he worked on pretty much every series that came down the road. He was also featured in the movies High Plains Drifter, The Wind and the Lion, Dillinger, Every Which Way But Loose, ‘Salem’s Lot, Maverick and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, to name a few. One of his daughters, Juliette, followed him into acting and has made a name for herself as well. The twinkle in his eyes and the sour-faced grin he perfected will be missed.
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:
If you’re in Seattle between now and the end of August, consider visiting the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI – pronounced Mow-High by us locals). They’ve just opened an exhibition entitled “American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition”. “Created by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and making its West Coast premiere at MOHAI, American Spirits brings the whole story of Prohibition vividly to life through a re-created speakeasy, films, photos, multimedia, and more than 100 rare artifacts.” The show runs through August 23rd.
American Pie lyrics sell for $1.2m
Ripper Street Season 3 trailer
The scene of the London jewel heist
Ever been homesick? Ain’t got nothing on this guy!
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
Mike Lawson, July 11
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!
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Word of the Week:
(thanks to etymonline.com)
Conspiracy: Noun - mid-14c., from Anglo-French conspiracie, Old French conspiracie "conspiracy, plot," from Latin conspirationem (nominative conspiratio) "agreement, union, unanimity," noun of action from conspirare (see conspire); earlier in same sense was conspiration (early 14c.), from French conspiration (13c.), from Latin conspirationem. An Old English word for it was facengecwis. As a term in law, from 1863. Conspiracy theory is from 1909.
Also it is what you call a flock of ravens – a conspiracy (they are also called an unkindness sometimes, but conspiracy has a better ring don’t you think?).
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.
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What We’ve Been Reading:
Amber Recommends:
Daniel O’Malley - The Rook (Back Bay Books, tp, $16.00)
Summary: Myfanwy Thomas is born (as a fully grown adult) during a rainstorm and surrounded by people wearing surgical gloves. Now when I say, “people”, that is a bit inaccurate. What I really mean to say is Myfanwy is surrounded by bodies, all of whom are wearing surgical gloves. Which is a bit disturbing….
Even more disconcerting is the discovery that her body once belonged to another woman, one who seems to have enemies who are willing to go to extreme lengths to make sure she never tells anyone what she knows. The problem is, Myfanwy doesn’t know what it is she isn’t supposed to know. More worrisome is the fact she doesn’t know who she is…
You might think her memory loss was due to amnesia - unfortunately it isn’t anything so mundane - it is far too pervasive. Myfanwy’s previous personality, memories - everything that made her is completely gone, leaving behind a brand new, unencumbered person looking out of the eyes, which once belonged exclusively to another woman. You might be wondering with this memory loss how Myfanwy knows her name…
A single clue was left in her jacket pocket, letter written by her body’s previous occupant, beginning with “Dear You,”. This gives her a choice - leave behind the life her body’s previous occupant enjoyed for a cushy life on an anonymous white sand beach somewhere or learn who betrayed her and put and end to them.
Review: This book is a couple of years old now and I have no idea how I missed it when it was first released! In fact, if it hadn’t been misfiled in the new release section of my local book store I would have continued on blissfully unaware I’d missed this great book. But the fates (or gnomes - which I swear are responsible for the proliferation of misfiled books - since this book was in the completely wrong place) smiled down on me and this book caught my eye. It is one part “Agents of Shield” (before they were a thing), one part Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and one part Dark City mixed together to create a completely engrossing, snarky supernatural thriller.
What I enjoyed was how O’Malley worked both personalities of Myfanwy into the story in a way I haven’t seen in a very long time. By using letters one personality wrote to the other, it allowed the author to create a more dynamic story. It enabled the O’Malley to slip in information and a plot points into the narrative without having to add repetitive transitional passages describing some sort of flashback to Myfanwy’s previous personality or discombobulate the reader by switching to abruptly between narrators. “Dear You,” at the beginning of the letter was all that was needed to read to know who was talking and what was going on. Very clever and fun to read! The spacing of the letters in the narrative was also wonderful. The author used them to heighten tension by breaking up scenes, doling information and by having significant plot points happening in the letters themselves (they are not all dossiers on the main player in the story). The letters from one personality to the other added significantly to the storytelling allowing an extra level of detail and fun to the overall book. (Plus the letters allowed me to feel further connected to both personalities which helped me become seriously invested in the book - I really liked them as a plot device and I think O’Malley used them to their fullest advantage).
The other aspect I really enjoyed was the fact Myfanwy was in charge of her own destiny. She investigated the crime perpetrated against her with only the help of her former self. Myfanwy stood on her own two feet and figured out what needed doing and did it. She did not rely on someone else to save her. Meaning? She was not a damsel in distress who could only trust the smoldering gentleman she worked with, whom she couldn’t be sure wasn’t the one who betrayed her. Now I like an urban fantasy romance book as much as the next gal, but I am very glad that the author didn’t use this short cut of a plot device in his story.
So to sum up basically all I can say is SQUEEEEEE!!! Seriously I think you should read this book!! It is a great tale of urban supernatural espionage with a strong and capable woman getting things done! If you like mousey librarian types who find themselves in a small cage filled with large lions and tigers and discovers they are really a sabertooth tiger, then this book is for you!
Office of Fair Warning: It is a hair slow in the beginning but once Rook Thomas starts her first day at the office things really take off! You only have to make it to chapter three which is thirty-one pages in - so I have faith you can stick with it! I know I have hung in there much farther into a book before it finally decided to get up and move (and seriously it is only a little slow), so this should be a piece of cake!
And BTW ignore the description on the back cover! It makes this book sound fluffy when it is nothing of the kind AND it is a bit inaccurate! There is no purple slime in the book - purple spores and mold yes - but no purple slime!
Fran Recommends:
I was fortunate to be able to read the manuscript of Lisa Lutz's upcoming novel, How To Start A Fire (HMH, $25.00, May 2015, signed copies available, I think) and I fell head over heels in love with her three main characters. Anna, Kate and George (Georgianna, but George) were like friends by the end of the book, so when I got a chance to read the Advance Reader Copy, I jumped at it. It was good to visit with old friends.
How To Start A Fire is not, technically, a mystery. It's more of a jigsaw puzzle. It follows the lives of these three wonderful women from college when they all meet in 1993 through 2014. Anna comes from money and has a deep need to lose herself in anything, from impulsive and sometimes dangerous games to the more traditional methods, drinking and drugs. George is the beautiful basketball star who wants something, but she's not sure what, and her decisions aren't always the best. Kate is the quiet, solid one with a determination to do things her own way that borders on obsessive.
I love these ladies. A lot. They're fun and funny and sad and hopeful and so necessary to each other despite mistakes and betrayal and missed communication. And the dead guy. But he's really incidental, not at all the heart of the story.
I said it's a jigsaw puzzle because the story is not told linearly. It skips around, and you have to pay close attention to the years at each chapter's heading so you know where you are in their lives. And it should be a frustrating way to tell a story, but that's where Lisa Lutz displays her genius. It works, and works really well. Bits and pieces of these women's lives are revealed in ways that only make them more fascinating. It's a testament to Ms. Lutz's understanding of how women's friendships work that George, Anna and Kate are so wildly different and at the same time, so very necessary to each other.
How To Start A Fire is filled with real women leading real lives, filled with emotion, tension, humor, profanity, unfortunate escapades involving sex and alcohol, and the deep, true connection only true friends will genuinely understand.
When the hardback comes out in May, I plan on catching up with my friends again, and I suspect that next year when How To Start A Fire comes out in paperback, I'll meet with these three ladies and their friends and families around a campfire yet again. This isn't a one-time read for me; Lisa Lutz has created characters as real and immediate as any I've ever met, and I'll want to spend more time with them.
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