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Happy Monday,
In response to Amazon and other on-line retailers the American Booksellers Association has launched a campaign in support of bookstores.
While the box is the key image, this is a good time to remind you that no matter how and where you shop, shipping to you via boxes for the holidays will run into heavy traffic. Only today the Wall Street Journal headlined how overstressed the major shippers will be.
Again we say, October is the new December, meaning that given all the shortages in paper and print and the crush of shipping it is smart to order early. We can cover orders we can see but we can't always guess the full demand.
Another good choice for gifts may well be either a Poisoned Pen Gift Card to be redeemed post holidays. Or to enroll someone in one of our Book of the Month Clubs. What fun to get a Mystery Box each month. One focused more closely on a specific taste than the generic pick many stores offer. We read all the book club books BEFORE we select them for each month.
UPS and USPS have announced rate increases for the holidays so we will be forced to up shipping to $5 for the first book from November 28. And thus another reason to shop early.
Thank you for supporting The Pen, an independent bookstore where real people and not algorithms recommend books to you
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.
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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Don't Be Shy
Just Call ahead or stop by if you are nearby
We've updated our look
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We're delighted to welcome you during the hours listed below, with the caveat we sometimes have to block off an hour if we are videoing an event in the store.
Just stop by or call ahead, you might have a bit of a wait if there are more people in the store than guidelines allow.
Appointments will be for 20 minutes on the hour and half hour, allowing us a short break in between to sanitize.
Appointment Hours 11:00-4:00 M-F, also 6:00-8:00 W & Thu; and 11:00-6:00 on Saturday.
The same hours apply for curbside pickup which is also available from 1:00-4:00 PM on Sundays.
For curbside pickup use 480-970-1534.
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The October BookNotes plus the October Booknews
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Paperback Picks and Book of the Month Clubs Picks can be seen in our webstore
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More New Podcasts
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New podcasts post frequently. We can see you are enjoying them by the over 44,000 downloads. Lots of conversations here! And with lots of authors!
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: Mark Salter and Jim Hoagland on John McCain--really fascinating and non-political; Rebecca Roanhorse with Pat.
Coming up: Mary Anna Evans with Sara Johnson
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AudioBooks
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A membership makes a great gift. Check the Libro website for how to add memberships to your gift giving.
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Video Book Talks
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You can find some book talks, short recommendations, by me and on our Instagram courtesy of IGTV. Check out short videos by Patrick, Pat King,and John Charles of our staff as well.
You can also find book talk s on our Home Page
Now running: Three Australians:
Sulari Gentill, Dervla McTiernan, Emma Viskic
Coming up from the UK:
Alan Bradley with Peter Lovesey who is celebrating his 50th publishing anniversary
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Mary Anna Evans
Sara Johnson
Tonight 5:00 PM
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MONDAY OCTOBER 19 5 PM A Poisoned Pen Press Duo
Mary Anna Evans discusses Wrecked (Poisoned Pen $15.99)
A Faye Longchamp Archaeological Mystery
The aftermath of a hurricane that hits the Big Bend region of northern Florida provides the backdrop for Evans's intricate 13th mystery featuring archaeologist Faye Longchamp. Faye's husband, Joe Mantooth, is doing his part to help by using his new toy-a drone-to document the devastation with aerial pictures. When Faye notices a dark spot in the sea on one of Joe's photos, she calls on Captain Eubanks , her amateur historian friend, to help her identify it. Could it be the silhouette of a long-lost ship?
Less than a day later, the captain's body washes ashore. His death is quickly deemed a diving accident by harried police, who are busy trying to control looters and locate people who are unaccounted for. Then someone steals Joe's phone and computer, and destroys his drone.
PW writes that "Evans smoothly integrates fascinating historical and archaeological lore into Faye's quest for the truth behind the captain's death. This long-running series shows no signs of losing steam."
As its editor I have loved them all and recommend you read them from the beginning.
An Alexa Glock Forensic Mystery (set in New Zealand)
In the sequel to Molten Mud Murder ($15.95), a hit debut here at The Pen, Alexa Glock, formerly of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, is still hanging on to a job in New Zealand, where she has found a post with the Forensic Service Center in Auckland.
Her specialty in forensic odontology makes her the perfect person to identify the remains of a man discovered on remote Stewart Island, whose main tourist draws are its native birds and shark cage diving operations. Alexa confirms that the body is that of Robert King, who disappeared while deer hunting in Rakiura National Park 10 months earlier. There's a bullet hole his skull.
Then a dead man washes up on the beach, a third of his body torn away by sharks. He, too, was shot. Alexa is surprised when the prickly but attractive policeman from Rotorua appears to work the crimes. In a tricky case, the flora and fauna of rural New Zealand turn out to be relevant to the sleuthing.
(I am not going to comment on the wild discrepancy in the cover art between the two Alexa Glock books).
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Brad Thor Book Club
Wednesday 6:00 PM
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WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14 6:00 PM
Brad Thor Discussion Club
Previous registrants will automatically receive a new invitation
There will be spoilers as the point is to discuss the entire Scot Harvath adventure to the end.
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The annual volume gets CJ as its editor for a nice run through outstanding new short fiction. We'll see CJ in the Spring with his next Joe Pickett Dark Sky (Putnam $27.99) -- the same title as his upcoming Nov 17 ABC premiere for Cassie Dewell. We will have copies actually signed by CJ for you. Stories that address a wide variety of voices, perspectives, and styles. There is an openness to experiment and pushing boundaries, combined with the classic desire to read about spaceships and dragons, future technology and ancient magic, and the places where they intersect. Contemporary science fiction and fantasy looks to accomplish the same goal as ever-to illuminate what it means to be human. Don't overlook the big section on new books for you fans in the October Booknews.
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This British Library Crime Classic opens in London on the 22nd December. Chief Inspector Brett Nightingale and Sergeant Beddoes have been called to a gloomy flat off Islington High Street. An elderly woman lies dead on the bed, and her trunk has been looted. The woman is Princess Olga Karukhin-an emigrant of Civil War Russia-and her trunk is missing its glittering treasure. Out in the dizzying neon and festive chaos of the capital a colorful cast of suspects abound: the downtrodden grandson, a plutocratic jeweler, Bolsheviks with unfinished business... Beddoes and Nightingale have their work cut out in this tightly-paced, quirky and highly enjoyable jewel of the British crime genre. This never-before-republished novel goes beyond the neat puzzles of country house historical mysteries by delivering the darker side of British police procedurals in an evocative urban setting.
Boucher, Anthony. The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars (Penzler $15.95).
Set in 1939, this addition to the American Mystery Classic series from legendary mystery critic Boucher (1911-1968) pits the Baker Street Irregulars, members of the real-life organization of Sherlock Holmes fans, against Stephen Worth, who has been chosen by Metropolis Pictures to write the screenplay for a major movie based on the Holmes story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." Worth, "the author of many stupid and illogical mystery novels of the type known as hard-boiled," has expressed a desire to show up the detective as a "cocky bastard." When the Irregulars protest Worth's selection to Metropolis Pictures producer F.X. Weinberg, Weinberg invites them to Hollywood to consult on the film. The Irregulars soon lock horns with the obnoxious Worth, and a fatal shooting follows.... A clear must for Sherlockians, no?
The Horizontal Man was Helen Eustis's only crime novel, and she won an Edgar Award for it, combining a wildly disparate set of elements into an enduringly fascinating work. In its way it is a classical whodunit that stands comparison with old-school practitioners such as Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers. This mystery transpires in the rarefied precincts of the English department of a venerable New England college, one very much of the restless postwar moment, echoing with references to Freud and Kafka. Eustis finds comedy high and low in a cavalcade of characters bursting at the seams with repressed sexual longings and simmering malice. Beyond the satire, she stirs up-with a narrative whose multiple viewpoints give the book a striking modernistic edge-a troubling sense of the mental chaos lurking just beneath the civilized surfaces of her academic setting. This new edition includes an introduction from author and Poisoned Pen favorite Charles Finch.
Ottolenghi, Rodrigues. Final Proof (Poisoned Pen $14.99).
The Library of Congress Crime Classics series rescues another gifted author from obscurity with this collection of 12 stories set in the 1890s featuring PI Jack Barnes and his amateur sleuth friend, Robert Leroy Mitchel. Ottolengui (1861-1937), who was also a dentist, makes good use of his expertise in the best entry, the intriguing "The Phoenix of Crime." The autopsy of a male corpse retrieved from New York City's East River reveals that the dead man's face is marked by an unusual skin disease shared by Rufus Quadrant, a wealthy gentleman who died recently and was supposedly cremated. Members of Quadrant's family swear that the cremation definitely occurred, despite Quadrant's doctor's conviction that the body dragged from the water was his patient. The clever solution hinges on an early use of forensic dentistry. Other highlights include "The Nameless Man," in which Barnes is consulted by a man who doesn't know his own identity, and "A Frosty Morning," in which Mitchel must identify the thief of a banknote stolen in the midst of a will reading. Mystery fans devoted to logical deduction will welcome this reissue. Which is as with all the LOC Crime Classics, edited and footnoted by Leslie S. Klinger.
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It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiancé and her brother and regarded by society as a 'surplus woman' unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone. A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity. Violet falls in with the broderers, a disparate group of women charged with embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral, and is soon entwined in their lives and their secrets. As the almost unthinkable threat of a second Great War appears on the horizon Violet collects a few secrets of her own that could just change everything... This book is a treat on every level from the characterizations, the surprises, the unusual as well as better known historical bits, and Chevalier's superb command of language and structure. Highly recommended-one of my favorite novels of 2019.
Virtual event October 28 1:00 PM from Ireland
Connolly has written a prequel to his splendid, long-running Charlie Parker series and sets it in Arkansas (not an obvious choice for an Irish writer). Here's a well deserved Starred Review: "...noir fans will relish an origin story set in 1999. The murder of Parker's wife and daughter ended his career as an NYPD detective, but the ghosts of his loved ones still literally haunt him, and the tragedy may have turned him into a vigilante who beat a child predator to death. Parker's hunt for his family's killer takes him to impoverished Burdon County, Arkansas, where someone, possibly the same person he's seeking, has been murdering teenage girls.
It's ten days before Christmas at Honeychurch Hall and Kat Stanford has persuaded the Earl of Grenville to open the Museum Room to the villagers in an effort to raise money for rooftop repairs. For the price of a ticket visitors will be able to view an unusual display of antiques - including the legendary Bleeding Hawk of Honeychurch Hall. When an obnoxious young couple drive 200 miles from London to view the treasures it's not just Kate who is suspicious of their intentions; Mr Chips, the estate's feisty Jack Russell makes his feelings plain by taking a bite out of the man's trousers. But then a suit of armour inexplicably falls on the ancient butler, killing him, and when a second body is found near a quarry nearby Kat becomes entangled in a world of feuds and jealousies.... We are so glad to see this entertaining British series continue....
Freeman, Brian. The Deep, Deep Snow (Blackstone $16.99). Our first batch of copies will be Signed by Freeman
He is having a blitz of a publishing year, first stepping into the Ludlum franchise with The Bourne Evolution (Putnam $28 SIGNED) and then bringing us a tenth dazzler for Duluth policeman Jonathan Stride in Funeral for a Friend (Blackstone $27.99 SIGNED).
And now this atmospheric and deeply affecting tale centered on Shelby Lake, now a young woman deputy in the Mittel County Sheriff's Department but once an abandoned newborn left on the Sheriff's doorstep (to be fair his home resembled a church). A haunting new case arrives: ten-year-old Jeremiah Sloan has gone missing, his bicycle found abandoned in the woods. It's unthinkable to all in the small town that Jeremiah is a victim of stranger abduction, but no matter how hard they work the case, there is no trace of the child, no clue. Shelby takes it hard and never lets it go. Many lives are shattered. Ten years later many threads woven into the story begin to surface and weave together. You won't foresee the outcome. But I will say this is a poignant story of suppressed secrets and escalating mistakes rather than crimes.
Maguire, Gregory. Wicked (HarperCollins $30).
Maguire's groundbreaking New York Times bestseller redefined the land of Oz, its inhabitants, its Wizard, and the Emerald City, viewing the world created by L. Frank Baum through a darker and greener lens. Brilliantly inventive, Wicked offered a radical new portrait of one of the most feared and despised villains in all of literature: the universally maligned Wicked Witch of the West who, in Maguire's imaginative retelling, isn't nearly as black-hearted as we imagined. Now readers old and new can indulge in this classic with a special 25th anniversary hardcover edition.
From the twice Booker Prize winner and internationally bestselling Hilary Mantel, a collection of writing-essays, book reviews, memoir-from over thirty years contributing to the London Review of Books. The publisher calls it, "Constantly illuminating, always penetrating, and often very funny, interleaved with letters and other ephemera gathered from the archive." You probably already know that Mantel had good odds of winning a third Booker for 2020 but...did not.
A virtual event is in the works. I should have a date next Enews
Since his debut novel, the modern classic The Ghosts of Belfast ($9.99), was published a decade ago, Irishman Neville, an Edgar finalist, has published eight other critically acclaimed novels. Now for the first time Neville offers readers a collection of his short fiction-chilling stories that traverse and blend the genres of noir, horror, and speculative fiction, and which bring the history and lore of Neville's native Northern Ireland to glittering life. The collection concludes with the long awaited novella The Traveller, the companion piece to The Ghosts of Belfast and Collusion. Gerry Fegan appears in four of the tales. Complete with a foreword from Irish crime fiction legend John Connolly, this volume is the perfect indulgence for fans of ghost stories and noir, and is a must-have for devotees of Neville's prizewinning Belfast novels.
"Smith's stellar ninth outing for Arkady, his first since 2013, finds the maverick detective, who serves as an investigator of special cases for Zurin, the Moscow Prosecutor, growing increasingly concerned over his inability to reach his girlfriend, investigative journalist Tatiana Petrovna, after she fails to return to Moscow as scheduled from an assignment. Arkady knows only that she went to Siberia. Meanwhile, Zurin orders Arkady to travel to Siberia to oversee the prosecution of Aba Makhmud, a Chechen terrorist. Zurin directs Arkady to insure that Makhmud, who tried to kill the Moscow Prosecutor, receives a lengthy prison sentence, and threatens to harm Arkady's stepson if he fails to do so. Arkady is keener to go to Siberia once he learns Tatiana is probably still there, doing a story on Mikhail Kuznetsov, the so-called "hermit billionaire," who may run against Putin in the next election. The stakes rise after Renko arrives in Siberia....
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Awards News
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The winners included Hank Phillippi Ryan for
The Murder List (Forge) who may have been the first Best Novel honoree to receive the award on her birthday;
Tara Laskowski , whose One Night Gone (Graydon House) was named Best First Novel;
Best Anthology or Collection winner Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shawn Reilly Simmons (Wildside Press), and Seven Ways to Get Rid of Harry (Down & Out Books), by Jen Conley, which won for Best Young Adult.
The most memorable acceptance remarks were made by Gigi Pandian, who took home Best Paperback Original for
The Alchemist's Illusion (Midnight Ink), who began writing in isolation as she sheltered from the world for a year after chemotherapy left her with no immune system, and Alex Segura. His Best Short Story winner "The Red Zone," appeared in ¡Pa'que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico (Down & Out Books)
The CWA Dagger Awards will be announced on Thursday.
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The Rest of October
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THURSDAY OCTOBER 22 7:00 PM
Hardboiled Crime discusses John Gregory Dunne,
MONDAY OCTOBER 26 5:00 PM
Andrew and Lee Child in conversation
They discuss The Sentinel (Bantam $30), the new Jack Reacher
Signed book available plus a special letter to our customers from Lee Child
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 28 1:00 PM
Might be one or two Signed UK editions left: Dirty South (Hodder $44)
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 28 5:00 PM
A debut historical likened to Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin mysteries
Signed books available... a few left
Our October Historical Fiction Book of the Month
NEW:
THURSDAY OCTOBER 29 6:00 PM
Richard Paul Evans discusses The Noel Letters (Gallery $21.99
Special signed bookplates
NEW:
FRIDAY OCTOBER 30 4:00 PM
Signed books available. May be personalized by the author who lives here
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
We close at 5:00 PM so our staff can enjoy it too
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A Preview of November/December
Check back for updates
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MONDAY NOVEMBER 2 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Signed Books available from Evanovich to us
Our copies come with various extras
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 5 5:00 PM
Asha Lemmie in conversation with Lisa See
Our November Fantastic New Fiction Book of the Month
Signed Books available for Lemmie
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 5 6:30 PM Virtual Book Launch
Anne Perry discusses her latest in her Christmas Series,
Comes with a holiday good wishes letter signed by Perry
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 6 4:00 PM
Michael McGarrity discusses Head Wounds (Norton $26.99), the final chapter in the storied career of New Mexico lawman Kevin Kerney
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7 5:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
A memoir/autobiography
Signed books available. A great gift for Maisie Dobbs fans
MONDAY NOVEMBER 9 4:00 PM
Australia's JP Pomare chats with Betty Webb
MONDAY NOVEMBER 9 5 or PM
Isabella Maldonado discusses The Cipher
(Thomas & Mercer $15.95) in a virtual event
And afterwards welcomes fans to a masked walk-by signing for those who would like to attend
The video taping is not open to the public
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 10 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch Lincoln lawyer Mickey Haller Signed Books available WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 11 6:00 PM Boyd Morrison in conversation with Don Bentley Morrison discusses Clive Cussler's Marauder (Putnam $29), Morrison's last full collaboration with Clive Cussler Signed Books available THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12 6:00 PM Nev March in conversation with Sujata Massey Our November Historical Fiction Book of the Month Signed Books available SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14 Afternoon We will post on FB and in a podcast a recorded conversation made this morning with Martin Edwards, Elly Griffith, Aline Templeton and Andrew Taylor all discussing Howdunit (Harper $27.99) Learn crimewriting from the masters who belong(ed) to The Detection Club MONDAY NOVEMBER 16 1:00 PM A Constable Twitten Mystery Signed bookplates
MONDAY NOVEMBER 16 6:00 PM
Marc Cameron and H. Ripley Rawlings in conversation with Mark Greaney
Jack Ryan, Sr. #20
Tyce Asher #1
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 17 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch David Baldacci discusses Daylight (Grand Central $29) An Atlee Pine Thriller Signed books available THURSDAY NOVEMBER 19 7:00 PM Hardboiled Crime Discussion Club
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20 7:00 PM SciFi Friday Discussion Club
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 21 10:30 am Croak & Dagger Discussion Club
TUESDAY DECEMBER 1 12:00 PM
Swedish author Lars Kepler discusses Lazarus
(Knopf $28.95)
TUESDAY DECEMBER 1 6:00 PM Virtual Book Launch
Thomas Perry discusses Eddie's Boy (Grove/Mysterious $26)
Michael Shaeffer aka The Butcher's Boy is back
Signed books available
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2 1:00 PM
Caz Frear in conversation with Patrick
London cop Cat Kinsella
Signed bookplates
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2 6:00 PM
PIs Lydia Chin/Bill Smith
Signed books available
TUESDAY DECEMBER 8 Virtual Book Launch
Josie Prescott Antique Mysteries... lucky #13
Signed books available
Our December Cozy Crimes Book of the Month
SATURDAY DECEMBER 12 3:00 PM
The Jungle Reds Christmas Cocktails Party
Rhys Bowen, Lucy Burdette, Deborah Crombie, Hallie Ephron, Jenn McKinlay, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Julia Spencer-Fleming
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Our October Books of the Month
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First, thank you for your response to The Pen's Books of the Month. The rise in membership means we can do a better job securing signed and unsigned books for you. It's not too late to join one or more clubs--or to give a club membership or more as a holiday gift to start in December or January.
OUR OCTOBER BOOKS OF THE MONTH
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.
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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
| 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,
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