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Murder By The Book's E-mail Newsletter (05/23/08)

This is the e-mail newsletter of Houston’s Murder By The Book, one of the nation’s oldest and largest mystery bookstores. To unsubcribe, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail.

Thank you for buying books recommended in this newsletter from an independent bookstore!
Want to find a BookSense indie near you? Go here.
Or how about another independent mystery bookstore? Go here.

Join us for our Book Discussion Group, which meets once a month. The meetings are free and open to all. You are welcome to join having read both, only one, or neither of the books. Go here for the future group selections.

Our next Mystery Author Luncheons!... Julie Kaewert (sometime in August, date to be set) and Carolyn Hart (October 24). Go here for more information on our luncheon events.

Highly recommended for the twisted & perverse!

Cherise the Niece (written & illustrated by J. K. Benton; hardback; 48 pages; $10) Edward Gorey meets The Bunny Suicides in a murderously funny tale from the creator of It's Happy Bunny, featuring a little piece of work named Cherise, who may be, it turns out, a not-so-nice niece. In the tradition of Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies, Jim Benton's first adult picture book, with hilarious rhymes and illustrations, is a darkly comic masterpiece of the macabre.

"She was orphaned quite young / In a mysterious way, / Her parents just up / And vanished one day."

The bloody footprints leading out of Cherise's bedroom are the first clue that perhaps the little darling with the bow in her hair is not an angel. As Cherise is shuttled from one aunt's home to another, her aunts vanish, meeting inventive and hysterical ends. With a killer punch line on its final page, Jim Benton's Cherise the Niece will leave readers laughing.

Highly recommended by the entire store staff!!!

To order or reserve any of these books (or anything else!), please call or e-mail Murder By The Book.

If you missed Rick Riordan's signing last Saturday, we still have a limited number of signed first editions of his new Percy Jackson young adult novel, The Battle of the Labyrinth (Hyperion; $17.99)... we have a lot of 2nd printings, but only 12 signed first editions left!

We also have a handful of signed paperbacks of the first two Percy Jacksons: The Lightning Thief (Hyperion; $7.99) and Sea of Monsters (Hyperion; $7.99).

Other young adult author authors signing soon:

New York Times best-seller Robert B. Parker will sign (along with his new adult novels) his young adult mystery, The Boxer and the Spy (Putnam; $17.99), Friday, June 6, 6:00 p.m.
When a shy high school student's body is found washed up on the shore of a quiet New England beach town -- an apparent suicide -- fifteen-year-old Terry Novak doesn't know what to think. Something just doesn't add up, so he decides to do some investigating of his own with the help of his best friend, Abby. It doesn't take long before they learn that asking questions puts them in grave danger, and surviving is going to be a fight. Fortunately, Terry has been learning a thing or two about fighting, thanks to a retired boxer named George, who teaches the boy to use his head and always keep his feet set beneath him-lessons Terry takes to heart in more ways than one. He will need to.
Highly recommended by David!

#1 New York Times best-seller Ridley Pearson will make his second visit of 2008 to sign (along with his new adult thriller, Killer View) his recent young adult thriller, Steel Trapp (Disney; $16.99), Thursday, July 17, 6:30 p.m.
Fourteen-year-old Steven "Steel" Trapp sets off with his mom and their dog, Cairo, on a two-day Amtrak journey to compete in the National Science Competition in Washington, D.C. Steel is both blessed and cursed with a remarkable photographic memory -- just one look, and whatever he sees is imprinted for keeps. Trying to be a good Samaritan on the train, he unwittingly becomes embroiled in an ingenious international plot of kidnapping that may have links to terrorists. Federal agents (first seen in Pearson's adult thriller Cut and Run) track Steel and his newfound science geek accomplice, Kaileigh Augustine, as they attempt to put together the pieces of a complex puzzle. Using Steel's science contest invention -- and with the help of Cairo -- Steel and Kaileigh lead listeners on an action-packed chase adventure as they attempt to prevent the unimaginable, before it's too late. Highly recommended by David!

Anthony Award winner Chris Grabenstein will sign (along with his new John Ceepak thriller, Hell Hole) his first ghost story for kids (ages 9 & up), The Crossroads (Random House; $16.99), Wednesday, August 20, 6:30 p.m.
Zack, his dad, and new stepmother have just moved back to his father’s hometown, not knowing that their new house has a dark history. Fifty years ago, a crazed killer caused an accident at the nearby crossroads that took 40 innocent lives. He died when his car hit a tree in a fiery crash, and his malevolent spirit has inhabited the tree ever since. During a huge storm, lightning hits the tree, releasing the spirit, who decides his evil spree isn’t over... and Zack is directly in his sights. Award-winning thriller author Chris Grabenstein fills his first book for younger readers with the same humorous and spine-tingling storytelling that has made him a fast favorite with adults. Highly recommended by David!

I know this one's a bit early, but we're such teases... New York Times best-seller Jonathan Stroud -- author of the Bartimaeus Trilogy -- will sign his first young adult novel in three years, at Murder By The Book, sometime in early 2009. If you haven't read the Bartimaeus Trilogy, stop by the store and pick 'em all up. Highly recommended by nearly the entire store staff! Start with The Maulet of Samarkand (Hyperion; $8.99)... Nathaniel is a young magician with only one thing on his mind: revenge. As an apprentice to the great magician Underwood, Nathaniel is gradually being schooled in the traditional art of magic. All is well until he has a life-changing encounter with Simon Lovelace, a rising, star magician. When Simon brutally humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to speed up his magical education, teaching himself spells way beyond his years. Eventually, he masters one of the most difficult spells of all: summoning the all-powerful djinni, Bartimeus. But summoning Bartimeus and controlling him are two very different things -- and Nathaniel may be in way over his head.

To order or reserve any of these books (or anything else!), please call or e-mail Murder By The Book.

Dean's new book due June 2nd!

The Unkindest Cut (by Honor Hartman; Obsidian; $6.99) Available June 2nd. Emma Diamond, a recent widow with a passion for bridge, takes a retreat with her friends to the Texas Hill Country, which happens to be hosting two battling bridge instructors. These professional contenders are infamous enemies -- and only one will survive the weekend. Includes bridge tips. Signed/inscribed copies available on request.

ALSO AVAILABLE: On the Slam (Signet; paperback original; $6.99) The first Emma Diamond mystery! Emma Diamond is a novice bridge player, recent widow, and the kind of person who never leaves her grocery cart sitting in the parking lot. And now, after a vile woman in her new neighborhood in Houston is poisoned during a bridge game, Emma has a new identity: amateur detective. Signed/inscribed copies available on request.

To order or reserve any of these books (or anything else!), please call or e-mail Murder By The Book.

New from Busted Flush Press...

Walking the Perfect Square (by Reed Farrel Coleman; Busted Flush Press; $13) Available June 6th. Back in print, the first book in Reed's two-time Edgar Award-nominated Moe Prager series. Recently retired due to a freak accident, NYPD officer Moe Prager is lost. In pain and without the job he loves, Moe relunctantly settles on the notion of going into the wine business with his brother. When a suburban college student vanishes off the streets of Manhattan, Prager's universe is turned upside down and his life changed forever. Hired by the student's desperate family, Moe plunges deep into the world of New York's punk underground, sex clubs, and biker bars. Politicians, journalists, and crooked cops seem hell-bent on stopping him in his tracks. Set on the gritty city streets of the late seventies and the present day, Walking the Perfect Square is a unique mystery that delivers a compelling look at one person's efforts to find a man who was never really there and to protect his family from an unbearable truth.

Featuring a new foreword by 2008 Edgar Award winner Megan Abbott and a new foreword by Reed.

"Among the undying conventions of detective fiction is the one that requires every retired cop to have a case that still haunts him. Reed Farrel Coleman blows the dust off that cliché in Walking the Perfect Square with a mystery that would get under anyone's skin."—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

"Reed Farrel Coleman is one of the more original voices to emerge from the crime fiction field in the last ten years. For the uninitiated, Walking the Perfect Square is the place to start."—George Pelecanos

ALSO AVAILABLE:
Redemption Street (Busted Flush Press; $13) The 2nd Moe Prager novel.
The James Deans (Plume; $13) The multiple-award-winning 3rd Moe Prager novel. Signed first edition paperback originals!
Soul Music (Bleak House; hardback, $24.95; paperback, $14.95) The 2008 Edgar Award-nominated 4th Moe Prager novel.
Empty Ever After (Bleak House; hardback, $24.95; paperback, $14.95) The 5th (and best!) Moe Prager novel.

Read a Brooklyn Daily Eagle interview with Reed Farrel Coleman here.

To order or reserve any of these books (or anything else!), please call or e-mail Murder By The Book.

Limited editions!

Kennedy's Brain (by Henning Mankell; 2007; Scorpion; $160) Quarter-leather-bound, signed & numbered, limited to 80 copies. No slipcase, as issued. Available now.

Ritual (by Mo Hayder; 2008; Scorpion; $160) Quarter-leather-bound, signed & numbered, limited to 55 copies. No slipcase, as issued. Available now.

Swan Peak (by James Lee Burke; 2008; Scorpion; $160) Quarter-leather-bound, signed & numbered, limited to 80 copies. No slipcase, as issued. Available in September.

No Alibi (edited by Maxim Jakubowski; 1995; Scorpion; $200) Anthology including stories by Lawrence Block, Liza Cody, Lindsey Davis, Reginald Hill, J. A. Jance, Peter Lovesey, Val McDermid, Sara Paretsky, Ian Rankin, Candace Robb, Peter Robinson, Margaret Yorke, and more. 29 signatures in all. Quarter-leather-bound, signed & numbered, limited to 150 copies. No slipcase, as issued. Available in 3 weeks.

Like a Charm (edited by Karin Slaughter; 2004; Scorpion; $200) Anthology including stories by Lee Child, Lynda La Plante, John Harvey, Mark Billingham Peter Robinson, Karin Slaughter, Denise Mina, Laura Lippman, John Connolly, and more. 15 signatures. Quarter-leather-bound, signed & numbered, limited to 120 copies. No slipcase, as issued. Available in 3 weeks.

Detection Collection (edited by Simon Brett; 2005; Scorpion; $200) Anthology including stories by Colin Dexter, P. D. James, Reginald Hill, Robert Goddard, and more. 12 signatures. Quarter-leather-bound, signed & numbered, limited to 100 copies. No slipcase, as issued. Available in 3 weeks.

To order or reserve any of these books (or anything else!), please call or e-mail Murder By The Book.

SIGNING NEXT AT MURDER BY THE BOOK!

[About our signing events: The talks are absolutely free! However, if you want to get any books signed, the latest novel must be purchased from Murder By The Book. You can also order signed/inscribed copies, if you can’t make it to the events. Please don't hesitate to call or e-mail if you have any questions at all about how our signing events work. Thanks!]

#1 New York Times best-seller
John Sandford
-- TONIGHT, Friday, May 23, 6:00 p.m.

The New York Times best-selling author will sign & discuss his new Lucas Davenport thriller, Phantom Prey (Putnam; $26.95). Signing numbers available with purchase of the new book from Murder By The Book. Details at the store.

"Sandford delivers the kind of riveting action that keeps thriller fans turning the pages." -- Publishers Weekly

Lucas Davenport is still working for Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), where he handles the most difficult -- and most violent -- crimes. This time, however, it’s his well-intentioned, surgeon wife, Weather, who drags him into one of the eeriest and most dangerous cases of his career. It begins when Weather’s friend, Alyssa Austen, returns to her empty home and is overwhelmed by an odd feeling. That feeling proves prophetic when she finds smears of blood in her kitchen… blood that turns out to be that of her daughter, Frances. Despite having no body, no leads, and a highly involved mother, Davenport steps in?while at the same time trying not to step on the toes of the investigator officially assigned to the case. Complete with subordinates and performance reviews, for Davenport is now the boss, he must pay attention and play the “politics” game now… a little bit, at least.

Frances Austen is an heiress who dabbled in Goth subculture, and when multiple Goths are found dead after Frances’s disappearance, Davenport is apparently after a serial killer targeting Goths. A woman known as “Fairy” (the nickname given to a particular pale, delicate Goth type) is the lead suspect. As her nickname suggests, she seems to flutter away every time Davenport gets close.

Pursuing the Fairy isn’t the only thing on Davenport’s plate, of course. He’s also part of a stake-out involving cop killers and drug dealers, which entails spying on a beautiful woman. (Life isn’t always so bad for Davenport.)

Sandford mixes startling plot twists, non-stop action, and witty, gritty dialogue -- classic thriller elements with modern, untraditional characters. In making friends with an enemy and realizing a family friend may not be, Davenport unravels a dark and daunting mystery, revealing the mind games people play, and the games the mind can play on people.

Read a brief interview with Sandford (The Birmingham News).

Sisters in Crime party!
-- TOMORROW, Saturday, May 24, 4:30 p.m.

In celebration of the Sisters in Crime Texas Mystery Month, MBTB and The Final Twist (the Houston Chapter of the Sisters in Crime) present a panel discussion (on what comes first when writing a book), cocktail get-together, and book signing. Please come out and meet some of the newest authors on the Texas Gulf Coast mystery scene!

Scheduled to attend include:
Cornelia Amiri / L. B. Cobb / Bill Crider / D. L. Driver / Betty Gordon / Pauline Baird Jones / Weslynn McCallister (a.k.a. Jamie Cortland) / Charlotte & Mark Phillips / Rosemary Poole-Carter / Leann Sweeney / Gayle Wigglesworth

Signing in early June:

Craig Johnson will sign & discuss his 4th Walt Longmire novel, Another Man's Moccasin's (Viking; $24.95), Tuesday, June 3, 6:30 p.m. Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire unravels a mystery that connects two murders over forty years—and brings back haunting memories of Vietnam.

Robert B. Parker will sign & discuss his new western novel featuring Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole, Resolution (Putnam; $25.95), Friday, June 6, 6:00 p.m. Book on sale Tuesday, June 3rd. Purchase of Resolution required to get any additional books signed. There will be a limit as to how many earlier books you may bring. Details at store.

Lee Child will sign & discuss the latest Jack Reacher novel, Nothing to Lose (Delacorte; $27), Sunday, June 8, 3:00 p.m. Reacher is a man with no fear, no illusions, and nothing to lose, but he's never taken on an entire town -- one that wants him not only gone, but dead. Within hours of his arrival in Despair, Colorado, Reacher's begun to crack the secrets of its sinister connection to a war that's killing Americans thousands of miles away. Now, between a town and a man, something has to give. And Reacher has never given an inch. Book on sale Tuesday, June 3rd. Purchase of Nothing to Lose required to get any additional books signed. Details at store.

Meg Gardiner, the acclaimed author of the Evan De***y thrillers (China Lake, Kill Chain), will sign & discuss her new stand-alone novel, The Dirty Secrets Club (Dutton; $24.95), Wednesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m. Meg launches her national book tour here at Murder By The Book, one of the only stores that imported her De***y novels from England in 2007! Don't miss this event!

Maggie Sefton will sign & discuss her new knitting mystery, Dyer Consequences (Berkley Prime Crime; $21.95), Thursday, June 12, 6:30 p.m.

Signing after that:

Elaine Viets, Thomas H. Cook, Don Winslow, Deborah Crombie, James Rollins, Jeffery Deaver, Out of the Gutter magazine party, Kathryn Casey, Rhys Bowen, Carolyn Haines, Dean James (writing as Honor Hartman), Mary Saums, Victor Gischler, Anthony Neil Smith, Jonathan Santlofer, Ridley Pearson, Stella Rimington, Brent Ghelfi, Brad Thor, Jeff Abbott, Robert Crais, Daniel Silva, 2008 Edgar Award winner Tana French, Barbara Colley, Diane Fanning, Duane Swierczynski, Karen Harrington, Chris Grabenstein, Marcus Sakey, Alafair Burke, Ellen Crosby, Laura Elvebak, Brad Meltzer, Darryl Wimberley, Sophie Hannah, Carolyn Hart, David Morrell, Joanna Carl. And many more to come!

If you can’t make it to the signing, you can order signed/inscribed copies at the store, or by phone or e-mail.

For a complete list of upcoming signings, along with a description of the books the authors will be signing/discussing, please visit our Signings Page here.

Have you missed any of our events, but still need signed copies? Please e-mail or visit our Signed Books page here.

Thank you for supporting Murder By The Book signing events!
Murder By The Book is proud to have more mystery/suspense/thriller signings than any other store in Texas.

Murder By The Book also offers...

Used books -- Is there anything you're looking for that may be out-of-print, or maybe cheap, used paperbacks, or even first edition collectible books? We have thousands of previously-read paperbacks & hardbacks. Feel free to e-mail want lists!

Order any book! -- Yes, our focus is on mystery, detective, and thriller fiction -- and we offer the best selection in Houston! -- however, we can also special-order any book that's in print and have it in within a week or so (in most cases). Prepayment may be required for non-mystery items. Please inquire at the store for more information.

Mystery conventions...
 Crimefest -- June 5-8 (Bristol, UK) Jeff Lindsay, Karin Fossum, Ian Rankin, Natasha Cooper, and more!
St. Hilda's Mystery & Crime Weekend (e-mail for information) -- Aug. 15-17 (Oxford, UK) Kate Ellis, Jane Finnis, Jason Goodwin, Anne Perry, David Roberts, Laura Wilson, Jacqueline Winspear, and more!
Bouchercon -- Oct. 9-12 (Baltimore, MD) Laura Lippman, Lawrence Block, John Harvey, Mark Billingham, and more!
Magna Cum Murder -- Oct. 24-26 (Muncie, IN) Louise Penny

Other helpful links...
2008 Edgar Award nominations
Murder By The Book's best-sellers
Busted Flush Press

Thank you for supporting local businesses and your favorite mystery booksellers!

David Thompson, publicity manager
Murder By The Book
Winner of the 2004 Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America!
Nominated for Publishers Weekly's Bookseller of the Year, 2007 & 2008!
Winner of a 2007 James Patterson PageTurner Award!
 2342 Bissonnet St., Houston, TX 77005
(713) 524-8597 / (888) 4-AGATHA / www.murderbooks.com / order@murderbooks.com
Store hours: Monday-Saturday (10 a.m.-6 p.m.), Sunday (noon-5 p.m.)

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Our address: 2342 Bissonnet
Houston, Texas 77005

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