| Wishing You a Safe Fourth of July |
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Hello,
I like this comment on the value of independent bookstores:
Booksellers use curation better than any other retailer I have studied: In fact, it's a term you were using well before it became ubiquitous in retail. The idea that you would carefully select for a customer a perfect book, the one they can't find on the New York Times bestseller list.... This is actually one of the things that helps you compete with the algorithm, that missed human connection. Convening: You have been able to exchange ideas and create places for conversation."
Right now we are using all our channels for furthering discovery, conversation, and reading books as transportive, informative, and offering connection and entertainment. And a way to travel in place and time.
Lesa does a wonderful job of discovery and recommendation in our Blog bringing in lots of authors for more discovery and recommendations.
And you can find Staff Picks and more in our
Webstore
We do rely on your purchases to fund this range of activities. But we think of them as a service to authors too, something to share and expand
.
Here's Maurice hard at work at delivering books to you. The books on the cart are all from one virtual event. You can see why we ask for your patience--the books had to go from the publisher to the author, from the author to us, and now from us to you.
It's a huge help to Sign Up
family and friends to our Enews. It's free, and adds no daily clutter to your In Box. It will also help expand coverage if you sign up for our You Tube.
Barbara and all The Pens
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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 and more....
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The July Booknews
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Here is the link to the
June Booknews in case you want to review for anything
I list the July Paperback Picks below. We will have these and the Staff Picks up for the weekend.
I also list the
July Books of the Month below. They also appear on our
home page
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Some Virtual Oops....
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To do a complicated Virtual Events program demands flexibility and a sense of humor--and adventure!
Not everyone has enough bandwidth for a good connection.
Sometimes pets get into the room. No children so far...
Time zones are a huge challenge. I'm fascinated to discover the different ways we think about what time it is where we are...and where everyone else is. This is especially evident when hosting international authors, or blending them with US residents.
Sometimes unforeseen challenges arise on the tech side (we are learning as we go)
For our International Trio, one author, nameless, invited Facebook Friends to join in so they kept popping up on screen. It was like a game of whack-a-mole... (Patrick has now learned a Zoom lockout feature). Hence the false start for our otherwise delightful time with Tim Hallinan, Ragnar Jonasson, and Jeff Siger. Enjoy the video keeping this in mind as we reboot the start.
Then at 4:00 with bibiophile Nick Basbanes, Patrick accidentally sent the program to our staff page instead of to Facebook. So there went your chance for questions and comments.
Rob salvaged the whole from the Zoom recording and it is now posted on Facebook with all the visuals that Nick prepared for his talk. We're very sorry you who might have wanted to question him in his role as expert collector were disappointed. I'll see if we can do an event with him just on bilblio matters in say September
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More New Podcasts
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There are even more new podcasts up. We can see you are enjoying them. Lots of conversations here!
For those who prefer not to stare at a screen but would like to enjoy our conversations with authors, these are for you.
Visit our new Podcasts Easy download links are provided. They are also available on ITunes and Google Music
Don't forget to search for a favorite author. There are many of them, often frequent visitors to The Pen, but some new to us.
New: Diana Gabaldon reading from Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone; Megan Miranda & Riley Sager; Lynne Constantine & Julie Clark; Tim Hallinan, Ragnar Jonasson, Jeffrey Siger; and for 1 1/2 hours, a wonderful time with bibliophile Nicholas Basbanes also talkig about the poet Longfellow
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Shopping with Us
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With infections still rising in Arizona, we are closed to browsing in the store for now.
But eager to connect with you via phone and curbside pickup
Call us 480-947-2974 for sales and for service
Monday-Friday 11:00-3:00 Saturday 11:00-5:00 Sunday 1:00-4:00
For the best customer service other than curbside pickup please continue to email [email protected]
We will update you on reopening the store for shopping after the Fourth Weekend.
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Our July Books of the Month
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OUR JULY BOOKS OF THE MONTH
(We renamed the Crime Collectors Book of the Month to this shorter title)
Still working on this selection for July
[Fantastic = fabulous, not fantasy]
International Crime Book of the Month
One Unsigned hardcover or paperback per month
SciFi/Fantasy Book of the Month
One hardcover or paperback per month signed when possible. Our July Pick is by an NZ author and not signed.
Still time to sign up for the rest of 2020
Note: going forward with July joining a club means your book will ship separately from any other orders, and Free.
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Our July Paperback Picks
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OUR JULY SMALL PAPERBACK PICKS
OUR JULY LARGE PAPERBACK PICKS
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Paul Doiron
His Virtual Book Launch in conversation with Tess Gerritsen
Tonight 5:00 PM
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THURSDAY JULY 2 5:00 PM
Virtual Book Launch
Two authors from Maine together
Paul Doiron's
new Mike Bowditch Maine thriller is
Let me start by saying that any reader of CJ Box and Randy Wayne White should order this book immediately
. You can explore the wilds of the Everglades (the python!) and the wilds of northern Maine where poachers run rampant back and forth over the border which is heavily patrolled now (think Joe Pickett here). And Maine Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch, with police powers, is working a cold case off the grid (OK, not Nate Romanowski but then, something of his style).
Bowditch is doing a new hire evaluation down in Florida and has time to join his ex, Stacy, on a python hunt. Wheelchair-bound Ora Stevens calls to say that Bowditch's mentor and father figure,
 her elderly husband Charley, is missing. Without explanation or contacts. Catching a flight back to Maine, Mike begins an off-the-radar-from-the-Warden-Service investigation. It takes him into the state's northern riverside border where Acadians of the St. John Valley, separated by the artificial national border, form a closed community. A Warden went undercover there 15 years back, infiltrating a ruthless gang of poachers, mostly run by a father and two sons. Charley ended up killing the father in the manhunt that followed the officer's exposure. Is a badge Charley spotted very recently at a flea market what touched off his disappearance? And does it connect to that old situation? And if so, who besides the villagers is covering up secrets? Some fellow Wardens?
I completely agree with this
PW
Starred Review: "Edgar finalist Doiron artfully blends a whodunit plot with superior characterizations in his top-notch 11th mystery featuring Mike Bowditch....Doiron vividly portrays the Maine woods setting while maintaining taut suspense. This entry reinforces the author's position in the front rank of regional thriller writers."
I love this coastal Maine Gothic with its fabulous house being rented as a summer writer's retreat, its apparently helpful neighbors, the heroine who should be acknowledging trauma... and is there a serial killer in this mix? This is a great summer read.
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A Trio of Debuts
Edward A Farmer
Kimicho Guthrie
James Wade
Friday 4:00 PM
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What a way to kick off the holiday weekend! Meeting three new authors, all acclaimed, is its own kind of fireworks!
Edward A. Farmer discusses
Pale (Blackstone $26.99)
"The plot and writing are evocative of the work of the late Ernest Gaines; it's a story simply and directly told, and by that simplicity and directness it exposes familial cruelties and kindnesses in equal measure. This is a promising beginning for a writer who, whether he realizes it or not, continues a rich and lyrical narrative tradition. A beautiful first novel."--
LJ
Starred Review for our
July Fantastic New Fiction Book of the Month
Secrets and revenge haunt a Mississippi plantation in this potent debut novel. Bernice takes a job as a servant in the Kern household to find stability and a place with her brother when she
 was otherwise alone. Jesse and Fletcher, the two sons of fellow servant Silva, arrive to work the cotton harvest in the summer of 1966, and the Missus sees an opportunity to repay old wounds. Flirting with Jesse is only the beginning of a plan that will destroy families. Bernice struggles to discover the roots of the Missus's anger while shielding those that she cares for as much as possible. Pale is a spare book, full of characters that do not give up their secrets easily.
The world is changing as the civil rights movement surges across the country, but at the Kern plantation, young men ask what makes them different from slaves. Missus's revenge is for wrongs a generation old, and its aftermath will stretch into the next. Although this is a brief book, Farmer takes his time setting out the methods by which characters will destroy each other over the course of years. Small, cruel truths slowly come out. Readers will hang on each page, just as Bernice feels bound to stay until the story is done. This intergenerational story of racism, patriarchy and vengeance is one that will not soon be forgotten.
A twenty-first-century ghost story offers chills in this promising debut, a "moving, compelling novel about intergenerational trauma and a woman's process of integrating the various known and mysterious threads of her identity.
The narrator, Jane (birth name Akiko), is the daughter of a woman who spent part of her childhood in Japanese internment camps. As the story moves back and forth between the contemporary Bay  Area and the camps of the 1940s, we come to understand the tragedies that are passed down through a family, even unarticulated, which shape and, often, contaminate the present. Each of the three women in the book -Jane, her mother, her grandmother - searches for ways to evade unbearable loss, each in her separate context. Kimiko Guthrie has written a book in which what seems like surrealism or even magical realism can be understood as the efforts of troubled souls to make sense of experiences that cannot be rationally explained; in light of what is gradually learned about Jane's family history, these experiences reveal themselves to be fragments of a painful collective and personal legacy.
Our Historical Fiction Book of the Month for July
Wade's violent and transfixing debut follows teenage Caleb Bentley and his no-good older brother, Shelby, through the turn-of-the-20th-century southwest, where they are on the run after stealing horses and killing a young boy in the process.
Caleb and Shelby are pursued by dandified rancher Randall Dawson, pushed by his wife into getting revenge for the death of  their son, Henry. But Randall, a poet by inclination, is unsuited for such a mission of vengeance. Fortunately, he is helped by single-minded Charlotte Washington, a black woman who is good with a gun. They are joined by Henry's ranch hand friend Tadpole and an orphaned youth they find in an abandoned town. The Bentley brothers reluctantly join the Lobos, a band of outlaws led by a charismatic but volatile ex-Ranger named Grimes, from whom Caleb tries to rescue a Mexican girl Grimes plans to marry. And with Charlotte, Randall finds love and a courage he never knew he possessed as the two groups converge on one another for a blood-soaked climax.
"The author takes a classic western setup and refreshes it with sharp writing, strong characterizations, a vivid evocation of place, and a body count to rival The Wild Bunch. Fans of All the Pretty Horses will want to saddle up for this literary ride."-PW
Signed books available for all three authors
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Closed Saturday and Sunday
Enjoy a Safe Fourth
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Linda Castillo
Amish Country
Monday 6:00 PM
Virtual Book Launch
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MONDAY JULY 6 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Linda Castillo signs
Outsider (St Martins $27.99_
Signed books in stock. On sale Tuesday.
Always one to push the envelope with what is at heart a small Ohio town police procedural series set in Amish country, Castillo pens a pure thriller here that allows much of Kate Burkholder's own backstory in.
What we have is a hard-bitten woman police officer from Columbus who exercises a late-night escape plan to escape execution by corrupt colleagues. A staggering blizzard helps her but as she heads out she enters Holmes County and realizes the only person she can think to trust, a fellow trainee back in their police academy days, might be her salvation. But her car wrecks and hurt, she's taken in by a widower Amish farmer with children. And Adam calls in Kate Burkholder, that fellow trainee, who recognizes Gina Colorosa. Gina's ambition caused a rift, and now her baggage is heavy, but she convinces Kate with her tale of dirty cops. And Kate in turn calls in Tomasetti. Meanwhile those bad actor cops are determined to wipe out Gina and anyone around her....
As I said it's a nail biting thriller. Fans of Kate will be pleased to add new dimensions to her character and story.
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Tickets for Two
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TUESDAY JULY 14 4:30 (7:30 ET) Virtual Book Launch
Please join The Poisoned Pen in partnership with Harper Collins to celebrate the launch of The Order (Harper $29.99) with Daniel Silva and CNN Special Correspondent Jamie Gangel in a conversation!
 To join us, please purchase a copy--
Signed copies while they last, one per customer. Additional unsigned copies are available.
Once you make your purchase you will receive the confirmation for your purchase which will include a link and password to attend this special event...at Daniel's home
So new this is not yet on our Calendar
SUNDAY AUGUST 9 1:00 PM
UK author Mark Billingham in conversation with Lee Child
To attend this special event, you must purchase a copy of
 Billingham's
Cry Baby (Grove Atlantic $26), a prequel to the hugely successful London copper Tom Thorne series, from The Pen
Your purchase means you will receive an invitation to the event shortly beforehand
If you have not read Tom Thorne, this is the perfect chance.
Attendees will be able to ask questions of both authors with the Zoom chat feature.
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ThrillerFest 2020
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Check out the International Thriller Writers fabulous virtual
THRILLERFEST with loads of author pairing up for conversation, writing advice, and much more.
It might be your best investment of the summer.
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Our July Calendar
please keep checking
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THURSDAY JULY 2 2:00 PM
Ellie Alexander
chats with John about
THURSDAY JULY 2 5:00 PM
Paul Doiron
chats with Tess Gerritsen about his new Mike Bowditch Maine thriller One Last Lie (Minotaur $27.99)
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
FRIDAY JULY 3 4:00 PM Meet New Authors
A trio of notable debut novels
Edward A. Farmer
discusses
Pale (Blackstone $26.99)
Our July Fantastic New Fiction Book of the Month
MONDAY JULY 6 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Linda Castillo signs
Outsider (St Martins $27.99_
Signed books available. Please order quickly to secure yours
TUESDAY JULY 7 4:00 PM 
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY JULY 8 4:00 PM
Beatriz Williams
chats about Her Last Flight (Harper $27.99), a thriller drawing inspiration from the life of Amelia Earhart
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY JULY 8 6:00 PM 
David Rosenfelt
chats about Muzzled (St Martins $27.99), an Andy Carpenter thriller
Signed books available
TUESDAY JULY 14 4:30 (7:30 ET) Virtual Book Launch
Please join The Poisoned Pen in partnership with Harper to celebrate the launch of The Order (Harper $29.99) with Daniel Silva and CNN Special Correspondent Jamie Gangel in a conversation!
To join us, please purchase a copy of
The Order
(Harper $29.99).
Signed copies while they last, one per customer. Additional unsigned copies are available.
Once you make your purchase you will receive the confirmation for your purchase which will include a link and password to register for this special event on Crowdcast.
TUESDAY JULY 14 6:00 PM
Signed books available for all three
WEDNESDAY JULY 15 6:00 0PM
Each of our copies includes a Quinn Colson bumper sticker from Atkins
Signed books available for both
THURSDAY JULY 16 6:00 PM
Signed books available
NEW: MONDAY JULY 20 12:30 PM
Camilla Lackberg
joins us from Sweden to discuss
MONDAY JULY 20 4:00 PM
Australian Author Anna Downes
discusses The Safe Place
(St Martins $26.99)
MONDAY JULY 20 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Books signed by Brad for us available but order soon before we sell out. Our copies also come with a special Postcard
TUESDAY JULY 21 6:00 PM
Harry Dresden
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY JULY 22 6:00 PM
Signed books available
THURSDAY JULY 23 6:00 PM
SATURDAY JULY 25 2:00 PM Cozy Fun
MONDAY JULY 27 6:00 PM
Signed books available.
TUESDAY JULY 28 5:00 PM
Signed book available
TUESDAY JULY 28 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY JULY 29 11:00 AM
UK authors Alice Feeney
discusses His & Hers (Flatiron $27.99)
Our July British Crime Club Book of the Month
NEW: WEDNESDAY JULY 29 12:00 PM
(Joseph $35) Signed copies.
THURSDAY JULY 30 5:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Signed books available
THURSDAY JULY 30 6:00 PM
Nicholas Griffin in conversation with John Sandford
about Griffin's
Our copies come with a postcard of 1980s Miami
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We Will Miss...
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Rudolfo Anaya, "a writer who helped launch the 1970s Chicano Literature Movement with his novel
Bless Me, Ultima," died June 28, the Associated Press reported. He was 82. In 2016, Anaya was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.
He also tried his hand at a mystery or two with his detective Sonny Baca, and we were lucky to host him more than once at The Pen.
In a statement, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
 described Anaya as one of the state's greatest artists and a seminal figure in literature, adding: "Through his indelible stories, Rudolfo Anaya, perhaps better than any other author, truly captured what it means to be a New Mexican, what it means to be born here, grow up here and live here. His life's work amounts to an incredible contribution to the great culture and fabric of our state--not only through his prodigious literary contributions but through his decades as an educator at the University of New Mexico."
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Mystery-of-the-Month Club
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Looking for something new to read each month and aren't sure what to choose? Let us help... And it makes a great gift
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
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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
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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
[email protected]. 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,
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