The Poisoned Pen
April Is National Poetry Month
Table of Contents

The Poisoned Pen

 

The Poisoned Pen

4014 N Goldwater Blvd #101

Scottsdale, AZ

85251

 

(480) 947-2974

(888) 560-9919

 

www.poisonedpen.com 

sales@poisonedpen.com 

 

Directions? Hours? Click here.

SIGNED BOOKS FOR YOU
PLEASE PREORDER
where not in stock
Books may be hard to obtain in April
Click on the title to order


The Last Emperox
on sale April 14


9 left in stock


Broken
Please preorder
Winslow has added an exclusive extra to our Signed copies

Amos Decker
on sale April 21
Preorder ASAP or risk disappointment

Arrived today from Harlan
A few left in stock

Sigma Force does Homer
Don't miss this Mediterranean adventure to Hell
Excellent for Clive Cussler fans!!
Exclusive collectible comes with our copies


We sold out and have
sent Graham a new batch to sign
A great read. They may be a later printing but will be autographed


Please preorder asap


Millers Kill
due in early April


Scottish Bookshop Mystery
on sale April 7


Devoted
in stock now


Regency Mystery, East
India Company in play
Terrific
Due in early April


Masked Prey
Lucas Davenport #3
On sale April 14


Our April Crime Collectors Book of the Month
on sale April 14


James Reece #3
hairaising scenes in Kamchatka
on sale April 14


The King's Beast
Our April Historical Fiction Book of the Month
on sale April 7


The New Husband
Domestic suspense
due mid April


The Committee
Our March Historical Fiction Book of the Month
in stock, 6 copies left


Carpenter & Quincannon
Historical Mystery
on sale April 7


Samantha Brinkman
Slow to arrive


Our April Fantastic New Fiction Book of the Month
please predorder now
supply is limited


Leonid McGill
Should be in soon
Checking with Mosley on where they are


No better escape reading than a new Stone Barrington
Signed by Woods at home and now in stock


New series with old players
in stock now


A 4th super spy story
signed by Steinhauer
in NY and now in stock


Commissario Guido Brunetti
Only 4 left in stock
No UK edition available


Terrific Gothic/ghosty story tied to The Titanic
Signed by Katsu at home
in stock now


Signed here March 29
A novel of Outremer and Christian kingdoms in the Near East
A 12th Century Game of Thrones
Shipped to Penman as her event has been postponed


A clear winner for Women's History Month
Travel with them 1852 style
in stock now


Our March British Crime Book of the Month
A police procedural set in Sheffield
in stock now


An exciting debut
Coming of Age Story
in stock now
Love the cover!!

Greetings,

Stay safe. Stay distanced. Stay hopeful -- which is why I mention this is National Poetry Month. Poems speak to us in so many different ways. Look some up.

Arizona now has a Stay in Place law. As a single-owner small business not open to the public we can continue to operate with these restrictions:

For your safety and ours:

We have staggered staff hours to maintain distancing . We are closed on Sundays to phone orders. There is no guarantee that a staffer is available to talk by phone on Saturdays. Saturdays will be staffed on a week by week basis. Weekday hours are 10:00 to 6:00

We have discontinued curbside pickupAs we are doing free shipping please order as usual:

Through our webstore

By email to sales@poisonedpen.com

On  weekdays 10:30-6:00 PM by phone 888-560-9919 or 
480-947-2974.

The webstore and email operate 24/7 but please realize that there is no guarantee someone can answer the phone. We will however return messages as fast we we can

Thank you for your heartening and deeply appreciated support. A special shout out to those who have purchased our  Gift Cards 

We hope also to offer a writers workshop via Zoom, or two. Details to come after we practice using Zoom early in the week.

Watch recent and older programs on  our YouTube channel and on  Facebook Live video   New videos include Harlan Coben, James Rollins, Kathy Reichs, and Kent Krueger. Many more are coming in April.
Try our podcasts on Google or on iTunes or  on Podbean 

Do check our BLOG regularly.  Much love to our social media team which includes Susan on Twitter and Kathy on Pinterest as well as me on Instagram

And thank you for supporting the authors!

Barbara and all The Pens

Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter 
  
Thank you for supporting The Poisoned Pen, frequently named Best Specialty Bookstore by the  New Times and by the  
Arizona Republic , one of 45 Great American Indie Bookstores 2013; Best Locally Owned and Operated Business: Scottsdale 2016; and Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks, winner of the 2010 Ellery Queen Award from the Mystery Writers of America and named the 2011 Best Local Publisher by the  Arizona Republic and now the mystery imprint at Sourcebooks.
New For You:
Unscheduled Book Chats
From time to time we are recording book chats.

On our Home Page, here is one Patrick and I did last week, an impromptu look at several new favorites.

We plan to do another one today before our virtual chat with Matthew Quirk. 

Kent and I took 15 minutes before our virtual event last Saturday about his own books to recommend books for you. I love his, selected because they are "hopeful". View it HERE
The April Booknews
Part One

Here is the link to the first April Booknews

The entries, most of them, publish between now and April 17.

I will do a second one. Things are changing so rapidly it's easier for you and for us if I do more frequent Booknewses

Here is the link to a terrific  March Midmonth BookNotes which has plenty of new books as well

By the weekend, check out our WebStore home page for more April releases. 

I list our April Paperback Picks below as the webstore is not yet current.

For You:
Free Shipping on orders of $25+ within the US
We always need good books however we define them to be, and right now more than ever.

THROUGH APRIL 15: FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OF $25 and up within the United States. We will reassess at that time.

PLEASE PREORDER TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT
As I predicted, printers and warehouses and shippers are showing the strain. We are experiencing some delays in stocking books who knows how April will fare Remember amazon prime has slowed down too.

Looking for Good Reads?
For you?
For family and friends?
We have long offered subscription Books of the Month. So one way to discover something you will enjoy is to order one of the selections. Or just sign up for a club.

For years we've offered a Mystery of the Month membership. You fill out a profile and we pick the book to send to you. Or
enroll someone in MOM, book to them, charge to you.

Email pat@poisonedpen.com for more information and to sign up

This would be an excellent time to order a Book Care Package to ship to a family member or friend.

One way to do this would be to go to our WebStore, select books and enter the billing information and the shipping addresses.

OR call us at 888-560-9919 or email sales@poisonedpen.com and let us pick out the books for you.

The Book Care Packages will ship free through April.

OR buy a Poisoned Pen Gift Card for a family member or a friend. It's a thoughtful gift, and books never spoil on the shelf.
Buy Audio Books from The Pen via Libro.fm
 
This is a great time to start a Libro.fm account for audiobooks

Use the code  #ShopBookstoresNow

You'll get two audiobooks for the price of one ($14.99), and 100% of your payment will go to The Pen. Once enrolled, you just click on the BuyAudioBook green button on the webstore page for a book. 

An example of the Buy button is here on The Last Odyssey page.

Huge thanks to Libro.fm for helping bookstores this way.

What Are Virtual Events?

All our April Events will be Virtual

Please note that all the Facebook Live  events can be viewed at any time after the event. They start on Scottsdale Time, 3 hours later than Eastern Daylight Time. Or 3 hours earlier depending on how you envision the time difference.

The programs will appear on our YouTube channel the next day, giving you a choice where to watch them. 
Stay tuned for any small Zoom programs we initiate. Stay ahead by downloading Zoom and getting used to it.
Matthew Quirk
Tonight 6:00 PM

WEDNESDAY APRIL 1 6:00 PM Virtual Event
Matthew Quirk chats about Hour of the Assassin (Morrow $27.99)
Signed copies on their way to us from Quirk. Please preorder to secure yours

Former Secret Service agent Nick Averose is a "red teamer," testing the security around high officials and performing a covert intrusion as if he were an assassin to pinpoint any weaknesses. It can be a high risk gig since some random guard could view him as a real intruder and kill him. But when he slips past the security surrounding a former CIA director, it ends with Malcolm Widener perfectly fine if kind of quizzical about the test. And then real assassins show up. Nick's efforts to fend them off don't work; Widener is suddenly dead. And Nick has not only contaminated the crime scene and left his DNA around, but is in the frame as Widener's killer.

Nick is the absolute best at personal protection-let's see how he fares clearing himself as the victim of the perfect frame. You will lose some sleep with this one starting with its electrifying opener.
Don Winslow
with Patrick
Monday 5:00 PM

Get a preview of Don's wonderful book on our BLOG

Preorder your signed copy of  Broken: Six Short Novels  (Morrow $30) coming to us fresh from Don's hands

He  is adding an exclusive extra to copies from The Pen

Winslow writes he wanted to take a shot at six novellas in the spirit of Jim Harrison or Stephen King or, as one can see in the book, Elmore Leonard. They give him an ability to set one in New Orleans, three around San Diego with homage to Steve McQueen and to Chandler, one in Kauai, and one a neo-Western along the border. 

Winslow shows us a world of high-level thieves and low-life crooks, obsessed cops struggling with life on and off the job, private detectives, dope dealers, bounty hunters and fugitives, the lost souls driving without headlights through the dark night on the American criminal highway. Both Patrick and I admire these novellas.
Julia Spencer-Fleming
Tuesday 5:00 PM

TUESDAY APRIL 7 5:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Julia Spencer-Fleming chats with Jenn McKinlay about 
Hid from Our Eyes (St Martins $27.99)
A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery

Signed copies. Please preorder to secure yours

  Karen reviews: Millers Kill is a small town with a lot going on. The recent murder of a young woman is reminiscent of one from 1952 and another in 1972. There is no identification for the victim, no obvious cause of death. The Police Chief, Russ Van Alstyne, was a suspect in the 1972 crime, as he was the one who found her body. 

The current crime, leaves few clues and, because of the time span, it seems impossible that all three crimes could be executed by the same person. Meanwhile, there are other issues. Van Alstyne is facing a citizen's committee which has determined that Millers Kill is too small to finance a police department and wants to turn it over to the State Police. 

At home, there is a new baby and wife, Clare, who has concerns of her own. She is a new Mom, trying to juggle her counseling duties along with her ministerial responsibilities and her battle to remain sober. Spencer-Fleming does a great job in creating a small town with flawed, but decent, characters.
Paige Shelton
Tuesday 6:00 PM
TUESDAY APRIL 7 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Paige Shelton chats with Jenn McKinlay about The Stolen Letter (St Martins $26.99)  Scottish Bookshop Series

Signed copies in stock now. 

Delaney Nichols is back in Edinburgh from her honeymoon, eager to return to her job at the Cracked Spine, "the most wonderful bookstore in the entire world." On the street, she literally bumps into a woman who looks a lot like herself-the same frizzy red hair and lots of freckles. By chance, the woman, who introduces herself as Mary Stewart, was on her way to the Cracked Spine. 

At the bookshop, Mary reveals that she's the reincarnation of Mary, Queen of Scots. Delaney and Mary soon become friends. Meanwhile, the Edinburgh City Council threatens to close the bookshop for code violations. Eventually, other people who believe they have past lives end up playing supporting roles in the main action: Delaney's investigation of the death of Mary's husband, a member of the council, in a car bombing. 

Vivid descriptions of Edinburgh enhance the well-crafted plot.
Dean Koontz
Wednesday
3:00 PM

WEDNESDAY APRIL 8 3:00 PM Virtual Event
Dean Koontz chats about Devoted (Thomas & Mercer $28.99)

Signed copies. Please preorder to secure yours. We have a limited supply due to the closure of the publisher's warehouse so don't delay

The thing to keep in mind about the imaginative and prolific Koontz is that he truly loves Golden Retrievers. His are family. So it's no surprise that Kipp, "a uniquely gifted dog with a heart as golden as his breed," is the protector, rather in the spirit of animal totems, to eleven-year-old Woody Bookman. 

And naturally in a Koontz novel this child, mute from birth, is under mysterious threat. His father died in freak accident. Woody believes some monstrous evil was behind dad's death and is threatening his mom, Megan, and Woody himself. And-he's right. A man has set a depraved plan into motion. Only a force for good like Kipp can stop it....
CS Harris
Wednesday
5:00 PM

WEDNESDAY APRIL 8 5:00 PM Virtual Event
CS Harris chats about Who Speaks for the Damned 
(Berkley $26)

Signed copies in stock now

In June 1814, as royalty from Austria, Russia, and the German states gather in London at the Prince Regent's invitation to celebrate Napoleon's defeat with a sumptuous round of parties, exhibits, and celebrations, the dissolute third son of the late Earl of Seaford is found fatally stabbed at a no longer fashionable London tea garden. 

Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is astonished to learn from Jules Calhoun, his valet, that the dead man is Nicholas Hayes, an old friend of Calhoun. Like most of Society, St. Cyr believed that Hayes had died a few years after he was convicted of murder and transported to Australia 18 years earlier in 1796. In fact, Calhoun reveals that Hayes, who managed to return to England by stealing a dead man's identity, got in touch with him and asked for his help. But for what? 

St. Cyr delves into the related questions of why Hayes took the step of coming to London at the risk of summary execution and who was responsible for his murder, which inevitably require probing the crime that led to Hayes's being sent to Australia-the killing of the wife of a French count. 

Figuring into the plot is St. Cyr's wife Hero and her powerful father and, in time, ties to the East India Company, by now an exemplar of capitalism run rampant. 

This is truly one of my favorite series, historically accurate and respectful, cannily plotted, fabulous characters, plus a cliff hanger at the end of every entry. But this one operates as a standalone so you can read it and then go back to book one
More of Our Reimagined April
Please check back from time to time
Please note that all the Facebook Live  events can be viewed at any time after the event and will appear on our YouTube channel the next day, giving you a choice where to watch them. Times are all Scottsdale, ie PDT

MONDAY APRIL 13 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Jack Carr chats about Savage Son (Atria $28)
The Terminal List #3 James Reece
Signed copies. The first 200 will also get a signed bookplate. Please preorder to secure yours  

TUESDAY APRIL 14 Virtual Book Launch 5:00 PM
Cara Black chats about Three Hours in Paris
(Soho $26.95)
Our April Crime Collectors Book of the Month
Signed copies. Please preorder to secure yours  

TUESDAY APRIL 14 6:00 PM Virtual Event
30th Book Party for Lucas Davenport
John Sandford chats about Masked Prey (Putnam $29)
Signed copies. Please preorder to secure yours
 
THURSDAY APRIL 16 5:00 PM
Eliot Pattison chats about  The King's Beast (Counterpoint $27)
Our April Historical Fiction Book of the Month
Signed Books. Please preorder to secure yours

SATURDAY APRIL 18 2:00 PM Virtual Event
DJ Palmer chats about The New Husband (St Martins $27.99)
Signed copies. Please preorder to secure yours

THURSDAY APRIL 16 5:00 PM
Eliot Pattison speaks about The King's Beast (Counterpoint $27)
Our April Historical Fiction Book of the Month
Signed Books. Please preorder to secure yours. Supply is very limited. We will do a random draw among the preorders for a giveaway of 5 paperbacks as a gift from the author

TUESDAY APRIL 21 5:00 PM
Marcia Clark speaks about Final Judgment (Thomas & Mercer $24.95/$15.95)
Samantha Brinkman
 The publisher's warehouse is closed. Please preorder and when we can we will secure signed copies from Marcia

Our April Books of the Month
OUR APRIL BOOKS OF THE MONTH
One unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
Bruce, Camilla. You Let Me In

One unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
Schellman, Katharine. The Body in the Garden

One Signed First per month
TBA

One Signed First per month
Black, Cara. Three Hours in Paris

One Signed First per month
Pattison, Eliot. The King's Beast 

One Signed First per month
Ewen, Pamela Binnings. The Queen of Paris

Our April Paperbacks of the Month

OUR APRIL SMALL PAPERBACK PICKS
Barclay, Linwood. Elevator Pitch
Barron, Laird. Black Mountain
Box, C J. The Bitterroots
Cavanagh, Steve. Thirteen
Hamilton, Glen Erik. Mercy River
McKinlay, Jenn. Pumpkin Spice Peril
O'Connor, Carlene. Murder in Galway
Robotham, Michael. The Secrets She Keeps
Singh, Nalini. A Madness of Sunshine

OUR APRIL LARGE PAPERBACK PICKS
Bannalec, Jean. The Missing Corpse
Chung, Catherine. The Tenth Muse
Gentill, Sulari. After She Wrote Him
Hitchcock, Jane. Bluff
Kim, Angie. Miracle Creek
Laukkanen, Owen. Deception Cove
Miller, Madeline. Circe
Nieh, Daniel. Beijing Payback
Siger, Jeffrey. Island of Secrets

Mystery-of-the-Month Club 

Looking for something new to read each month and aren't sure what to choose?  Let us help... And it makes a great gift for Dad!
 
The Mystery-of-the-Month Club is individually tailored to each customer's specific tastes.  Just let us know what kinds of mysteries you enjoy, whether your looking for signed hardcover books or paperbacks, and we'll take it from there!
 
For more information, drop Patrick King a line at
 
We Don't Want to Lose You!

If you change your email address you will disappear from our Enews mailing list automatically.  We can't tell unless you either

Go to the very bottom of any Enews and Click on 
UPDATE PROFILE or go here and fill in the form. You can choose whether to get the Enews alone or the Enews and Event invitations.

or  Email us your new Email address so we can input it for you into The Enews list. Please tell us that's what you want because we cannot just subscribe you.
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The Poisoned Pen
Is a full service general bookstore with a specialty in fiction of all kinds, and in history. When books are not on our shelves we can order them for you quickly or, if British, it takes a little longer.

Email any requests to sales@poisonedpen.com. It's all part of the experience. Thank you for supporting The Poisoned Pen.

Winner, 2001 Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America! Winner,
2012 The Arizona Republic and the New Times Best of Phoenix and Best of Scottsdale, Best Bookstore! 2013 Arizona Republic's Critics' Choice and Reader's Choice Best Specialty Bookstore
12-time Nominee, Publishers Weekly's Bookseller of the Year
Winner, James Patterson Page-Turner Award
Poisoned Pen Press, Winner, The 2010 Ellery Queen Award from The Mystery Writers of America
Member of the Crime Writers of Canada, British Crime Writers Association, The American Booksellers Association,