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Murder By The Book's E-mail Newsletter (07/21/08)

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!
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We have one of our best line-ups of thriller signings... ever... this week. Over seven days we'll host 2008 Thriller Award nominee Brent Ghelfi (tonight); Brad Thor (tomorrow), who debuts this week at #1 on the New York Times list!; #1 internationally-best-selling Texas thriller writer Jeff Abbott (Friday); best-seller Robert Crais (Saturday); and best-seller Daniel Silva (Sunday). No, we don't sleep... and you shouldn't this week, either! Not only are these BIG authors, but they also happen to be highly recommended by MBTB staff. Brent Ghelfi's definitely a writer to watch, and you may just be kicking yourself in a few years for passing up signed first editions of his second book, Volk's Shadow. More details below on all of this week's events. We hope you can make a few of them!

Those of you who attended Ridley Pearson's signing Thursday evening will be happy to know we're this close to scheduling a signing for the author about whom he talked for several minutes, Edgar Award-nominated crime writer Michael Koryta. For those of you who weren't at the signing, here's a very brief sense of what Ridley thinks of Michael's new, stand-alone novel, Envy the Night (St. Martin's Minotaur; $24.95): "This diabolical mystery novel, laid out in simple but eloquent prose and pitch-perfect dialogue, heralds a changing of the guard. I have seen the future of 'The Best Mystery Writer in America' and it's name is Michael Koryta." Stay tuned for updates on Koryta's signing.

And if you didn't make Ridley's signing and need a signed first edition of his second Walt Fleming thriller, Killer View (Putnam; $24.95), we have those, too! Set in Idaho's Sun Valley... Perfect for fans of C. J. Box and Craig Johnson!

To order, please e-mail or call Murder By The Book.

Former head of MI5-turned-thriller writer Stella Rimington was on KUHF's "The Front Row" on Thursday. Did you know Rimington was the model for Judi Dench's portrayal of "M" in the James Bond films? Learn more in her "Front Row" interview here. Find signed first editions of Rimington's third thriller, Illegal Action (Knopf; $24.95), at Murder By The Book.

To order, please e-mail or call Murder By The Book.

On sale now... The Turnaround (by George Pelecanos; Little, Brown; $24.99) The latest crime novel by the best-selling author of The Night Gardener and producer/writer of HBO's The Wire. One afternoon in 1972, three teenagers drove into an unfamiliar neighborhood and six lives were altered forever. Thirty-five years later, one survivor of that day reaches out to another. But another survivor is now out of prison, looking for reparation in any form he can find it. Highly recommended by David & Terry!

Read a Washington Post interview with Pelecanos here. Pelecanos is co-producing Steven Spielberg's follow-up to Band of Brothers, entitled The Pacific. Learn more about that production here.

George Pelecanos will be a featured speaker (along with Michael Connelly and others) at this year's Houston Chronicle Book & Author Dinner, Sunday, November 2nd. For more information on this year's event (location, ticket prices, etc.), please e-mail Susan Bischoff at the Houston Library Foundation. If you can't make the dinner and would like to get your copies of The Turnaround signed, they must be purchased from Murder By The Book (receipts required) and left at the store prior to Pelecanos's visit. Please contact the store for more details.

To order, please e-mail or call Murder By The Book.

Available now, signed first editions of James Lee Burke's new book!

We have signed first editions of James Lee Burke's new Dave Robicheaux novel, Swan Peak (Simon & Schuster; $25.95). All of our copies are signed on the title page, not tipped-in pages like some stores may have. Much beloved Louisiana lawman Dave Robicheaux (In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead; The Tin Roof Bloowdown) is back again, this time in the brand new setting of the rugged Montana mountains (as with Burke's Edgar Award-winning Black Cherry Blues).

FYI: Burke's daughter, acclaimed crime writer Alafair Burke, will sign & discuss her second Ellie Haskell novel, Angel's Tip (HarperCollins; $23.95), Saturday, August 23, 5:00 p.m.

To order, please e-mail or call 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!]

2008 Thriller Award nominee
Brent Ghelfi
-- TONIGHT, Monday, July 21, 6:30 p.m.

The 2008 Thriller Award-nominated author of Volk's Game (Picador; $14) will sign & discuss the sequel, Volk's Shadow (Henry Holt; $25). An international cabal drives Volk back to blood-soaked Chechnya, where he confronts an old nemesis and reunites with his lost love in this gripping sequel to the acclaimed series debut. Signing line numbers available now, with purchase of the new book from Murder By The Book.

The headquarters of an American oil company hemorrhages chemical-pink smoke into the Moscow night, the aftermath of an apparent terrorist attack. A Russian army captain carrying a priceless Fabergé egg and digital evidence of horrific wartime atrocities is murdered and relieved of both these prizes. And in the snowy mountains of southern Russia, a terrorist named Abreg—who once held Volk captive in a Chechen mud pit—hatches a plan to lure him back into his grasp.

Volk’s Shadow finds Colonel Alexei Volkovoy—covert agent of the Russian army and major player in the Moscow underworld—once again struggling to stay afloat in the swirling currents of Russian political and economic intrigue. This time, however, he is without his sidekick and lover, the ethereal Valya Novaskaya. Aching for the soul mate he pushed away, Volk begins to doubt himself, becoming even more detached from the brutality of his actions. When he takes out his inner pain on the wrong man, he gains a powerful enemy in the highest reaches of the Kremlin, and only after he travels back to Chechnya to eliminate his old nemesis, Abreg, is Volk’s debt finally repaid.

The series is highly recommended by Michelle & David!

#1 New York Times best-seller
Brad Thor
-- TOMORROW, Tuesday, July 22, 6:30 p.m.

Brad Thor will sign & discuss his new Scot Harvath novel, The Last Patriot (Simon & Schuster; $26), which debuts at #1 this week on the New York Times best-seller list! In a pulse-pounding, adrenaline-charged tour de force, Navy SEAL turned covert Homeland Security operative Scot Harvath must race to locate an ancient secret that has the power to stop militant Islam dead in its tracks. Signing line numbers available now, with purchase of the new book from Murder By The Book.

June 632 A.D.: Deep within the Uranah Valley of Mount Arafat in Mecca, the Prophet Mohammed shares with his closest companions a final and startling revelation. Within days, he is assassinated.

September 1789: U.S. Minister to France Thomas Jefferson, who is charged with forging a truce with the violent Muslim pirates of the Barbary Coast, makes a shocking discovery -- one that could forever impact the world's relationship with Islam.

Present day: When a car bomb explodes outside a Parisian café, Scot Harvath is thrust back into the life he has tried so desperately to leave behind.

Saving the intended victim of the attack, Harvath becomes party to an amazing and perilous race to uncover a secret so powerful that militant Islam could be defeated once and for all without firing another shot, dropping another bomb, or launching another covert action.

But as desperate as the American government is to have the information brought to light, there are powerful forces aligned against it -- men who are just as determined that Mohammed's mysterious final revelation continue to remain hidden forever.

What Jason Bourne was to the Cold War, Scot Harvath is to the War on Terror. Brad Thor has created "the perfect all-American hero for the post September 11 world" (Nelson DeMille) and will keep readers glued to the pages as he once again takes them across the globe on a heart-pounding chase where the stakes are higher than they have ever been before.

Highly recommended by David! For fans of Lee Child, Vince Flynn, Matthew Reilly, Barry Eisler, and the TV show 24!

#1 internationally best-selling Texas thriller writer
Jeff Abbott
-- this Friday, July 25, 6:00 p.m.

Internationally best-selling thriller writer Jeff Abbott will sign & discuss his new novel, Collision (Dutton; $24.95). Already an international sensation, with his books translated into fifteen languages -- in the UK alone, Panic has more than 400,000 copies in print -- Jeff Abbott is a master of the action-packed thriller. Now, with Collision, he delivers a meaty, twisty, white-knuckle ride designed to propel him onto the bestseller lists in his home country. Signing line numbers available now, with purchase of the new book from Murder By The Book.

Collision is the story of two men living very different lives -- one a successful corporate consultant who is mourning the murder of his new bride, the other, a former CIA agent known only as "Pilgrim," whose current assignment for a fringe espionage agency is so treacherous he doesn't even trust his own boss. When they are thrown together in a violent, unexpected event, the two men realize that they've been framed in an elaborate setup. Unsure who to trust and who just may be trying to draw them into the open, the unlikely partners have no choice but to work together. But with everything at stake, Ben has no idea that Pilgrim is harboring some shocking secrets of his own -- secrets that will soon force Ben to confront just how blurred the line has become between best friends and bitter enemies.

Highly recommended by Michelle! For fans of Harlan Coben and Joseph Finder!

New York Times best-seller
Robert Crais
-- this Saturday, July 26, 6:00 p.m.

New York Times best-seller Robert Crais ends his national tour at Murder By The Book! Please drop by and help us send him home in style!

Crais will sign & discuss his new Elvis Cole thriller, Chasing Darkness (Simon & Schuster; $25.95). After the fabulous success of The Watchman, Crais comes roaring back with another in his Elvis Cole series. Elvis was a hero when he cleared an innocent man of a murder charge. But when that innocent man is found dead three years later holding photos of the victim, Elvis is the one on trial. Signing line numbers available now, with purchase of the new book from Murder By The Book.

Highly recommended by David, Michelle, and Terry!

New York Times best-seller
Daniel Silva
-- this Sunday, July 27, 3:00 p.m.

New York Times best-seller Daniel Silva will sign & discuss his new Gabriel Allon thriller, Moscow Rules (Putnam; $26.95). Signing line numbers available beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, with purchase of the new book from Murder By The Book.

Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the world's finest writers of international intrigue and espionage— "a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carré" (Chicago Sun-Times)—and Gabriel Allon as "one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series" (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He's playing by Moscow rules now.

This is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States.

One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a former KGB colonel who built a global investment empire on the rubble of the Soviet Union. Hidden within that empire, however, is a more lucrative and deadly business: Kharkov is an arms dealer—and he is about to deliver Russia's most sophisticated weapons to al- Qaeda. Unless Allon can learn the time and place of the delivery, the world will see the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11—and the clock is ticking fast.

Filled with rich prose and breathtaking turns of plot, Moscow Rules is at once superior entertainment anda searing cautionary tale about the new threats rising to the East—and Silva's finest novel yet.

Highly recommended by McKenna, Michelle, and Terry!

2008 Edgar Award winner
Tana French
-- Thursday, July 31, 6:30 p.m.

The 2008 Edgar Award-winning author of In the Woods (Penguin; $14) will sign & discuss the sequel, The Likeness (Viking; $24.95). Tana French’s debut psychological thriller has had the kind of success most authors only dream of: a national bestseller, critically acclaimed, and a finalist for both the Edgar Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

In her highly anticipated sequel, The Likeness, French returns to the quirky and engrossing characters from the Dublin detective squad that we met in In the Woods, fast-forwarding a half-year later with Detective Cassie Maddox at the center. Cassie has started a relationship with Detective Sam O’Neill and she’s called to the scene of his new investigation: a young woman has been stabbed to death in a small town outside of Dublin. The victim is identified as Lexie Madison—an identity that Cassie used years ago as an undercover operative—and she’s the spitting image of Cassie.

With no leads, no suspects, and no clue to the dead girl’s real identity, Cassie’s former boss creates an extreme undercover opportunity for her. She tells the media, and Lexie’s friends, that the wound wasn’t fatal and Cassie goes undercover as Lexie and learns about her life from the inside. As Cassie slides into life at Whitethorn, the old manor where Lexie lived with her four closest friends, Cassie learns that Lexie’s secrets run far deeper than anyone had suspected. With lush prose and eerily perceptive insight into her characters, French takes us on an unforgettable tour of the splintered and dark worlds of Cassie Maddox and Lexie Madison.

Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the U.S. and Malawi, and has lived in Dublin since 1990. She trained as a professional actress at Trinity College, Dublin, and has worked in theatre, film and voiceover.

"The Likeness has everything: memorable characters, crisp dialogue, shrewd psychological insight, mounting tension, a palpable sense of place, and wonderfully evocative, painterly prose. In the Woods was an Edgar Award finalist; this one just might go one step further." -- Booklist

See a video of Edgar winner Tana French here.

Debut crime writer
Charlie Newton
-- Friday, August 1, 6:00 p.m.

Debut crime writer Charlie Newton will sign his first novel, Calumet City (Touchstone; paperback original; $14). Meet Patti Black, the most decorated cop in Chicago. Solitary, stoic, loveless—her steel-plated exterior belies the wrenching legacy of an orphan childhood. Plagued by the horrifying abuse suffered at the hands of her foster parents, Black sublimates past torments into a meticulously maintained ghetto-tough persona.

When a series of unrelated cases—a drug bust gone bad, a mayoral assassination attempt, the murder of a state's attorney; and ultimately, the exhumation of a long-concealed body from a tenement basement wall—all point in Patti Black's direction, she finds herself facing the dark truth of a dusty old chestnut: You can't hide from your history, no matter how far into the fog you run. For Patti Black, that history didn't die in the tenement wall; it's alive—and riding her down.

"The best cop noir in years." — Lee Child

"The literary equivalent of speeding down an amusement park water slide only to find an industrial strength meat grinder awaiting you at the bottom: By the time you realize what's happening, it's already much too late to turn back... an intense and explosive read destined to become a cult classic." — Paul Goat Allen, Chicago Tribune

New Orleans mystery writer
Barbara Colley
-- Saturday, August 2, 4:30 p.m.

New Orleans mystery novelist Barbara Colley will sign & discuss her new Charlotte LaRue mystery, Wash and Die (Kensington; $22). Charlotte LaRue, owner of New Orleans's Maid for a Day cleaning service, is swept into jeopardy when an uninvited guest arrives on her doorstep.

As the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished." Charlotte LaRue knows she should take a broom and chase Joyce Thibodeaux off her front porch. Once married to Charlotte's tenant Louis Thibodeaux, Joyce is fresh out of detox for her alcoholism and has no place to go. She swears she's clean and sober and will find her own place in a few days. She pulls on Charlotte's heartstrings... and soon she's staying in Charlotte's guest room.

Charlotte survived Hurricane Katrina, but Joyce proves to be an ill wind of a different kind. Soon a valuable gold watch left to Charlotte by her father is missing, and worse, a stranger is watching the house. Charlotte knows she has to show Joyce the door, but she never gets the chance. Instead her beloved parakeet Sweety Boy vanishes, her living room gets trashed, and Joyce ends up in the middle of the mess... stone cold dead.

Now Charlotte is on the list of murder suspects along with Louis, who's been out of town on business... or has he? Finding the answers means doing a little snooping herself. Grabbing her mop she's starting with the hospital where Joyce last stayed: a place with skeletons in its closets and a bucket full of clues that just might lead to a killer.

Signing after that:
Julie Kenner, Diane Fanning, Duane Swierczynski, Andrew Greenwood, Julie Kaewert, Karen Harrington, Jeff Cohen, Joe R. Lansdale, Chris Grabenstein, Jason Pinter, Marcus Sakey, Dave White, Alafair Burke, Ellen Crosby, Kathy Reichs, Laura Elvebak, Colleen Thompson, Margaret Coel, J. T. Ellison (stock signing only), Brad Meltzer, Brendan McNally, Don Winslow, David Ciambrone, Earl Staggs, David Handler, Joe Domenici, Darryl Wimberley, Archer Mayor, Victoria Laurie, Ian Rankin, Stephen Hunter, Clare Langley-Hawthorne, Reed Farrel Coleman, Eric Stone, Sophie Hannah, Michael Genelin, Carolyn Hart, Clare O'Donohue, Michael Connelly (Houston Chronicle Book & Author Dinner), George Pelecanos (Houston Chronicle Book & Author Dinner), David Morrell, Joanna Carl, Jo-Ann Power, Hard Case Crime's Charles Ardai. 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...
 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
Left Coast Crime -- March 17-21, 2009 (Waikoloa, Hawaii) Barry Eisler, Lee Goldberg, Rhys Bowen

Other helpful links...
2008 Edgar Award nominations
Murder By The Book's best-sellers
Busted Flush Press
Mystery Writers of America / Southwest Chapter
Sisters in Crime / Houston Chapter

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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