Murder by the Book

Murder By The Book's E-mail Newsletter (08/28/08)

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 IndieBound bookstore near you? Go here.
Or how about another independent mystery bookstore? Go here.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye... Murder By The Book manager McKenna Jordan and assistant manager David Thompson leave town this Saturday for two weeks, bound for Scotland to get married. Will the staff miss them? Have you seen Risky Business? You get the idea. Please come and visit with the rest of the wonderful employees at Murder By The Book: Michelle, Martha, Terry, Anne, Dean, Kathryn, Cindy, Megan, Edith, new-gal Sarah, new-guy Sam, and Les. They'd love to see you!

We'll be open Labor Day, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Have a wonderful holiday!

See Alafair Burke's Wall Street Journal interview on her new Ellie Hatcher novel, Angel's Tip (Harper; $23.95). The book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by McKenna! We have signed first editions of it and the first Hatcher novel, Dead Connection (Holt; $19.95).

Read about Brad Meltzer's new thriller, The Book of Lies (Grand Central; $25.99), in this USA Today article. The book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by Anne! Meltzer signs here Tuesday, September 16, 6:30 p.m.

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

BIG DEBUT! ACT FAST!

Sweeping Up Glass (by Carolyn D. Wall; Poisoned Pen Press; $24.95) Poisoned Pen has a huge hit on their hands with this debut... but not for long! PPP discovered this new author, shortly before rights were sold to Bantam, who will bring out their edition in summer 2009. Poisoned Pen only printed 1,000 copies... and that's it. No reprints. We were able to get a very limited quantity, and we don't have that many remaining. Signed first editions. Limit two per person. We're very sorry, but these won't last long, so if you're interested in copies, please call immediately upon receiving this e-mail.

In its starred review, Publishers Weekly says: "The strong, fresh narrative voice pulls the reader in and doesn't let go in Wall's stunning debut. Someone is killing wolves on Olivia Harker's Kentucky property for sport, and Olivia aims to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Olivia recounts her childhood with an adored father and a mad mother in the brutally segregated Depression-era South. In quick succession, Olivia finds and loses love, gives birth, marries an unloved suitor and becomes a widow. Olivia's daughter, wild and ambitious, hands Olivia her own out-of-wedlock baby to raise, a boy named Will'm. When the probable persecutor of Olivia's wolves sets his sights on her beloved Will'm, Olivia clarifies a decades-old mystery, unwittingly bringing danger to the impoverished local community of blacks who've been her guardian angels. As the action moves inexorably to its explosive conclusion, Olivia must come to grips with past betrayals, thereby earning a second chance at love, redemption and long overdue justice."

Highly recommended by Barbara! Read further for her review:

"This extraordinary novel with an unusual mystery makes this a compelling read. Set in 1938 in an area of rural poverty and blatant racial disparage, survival is a daily struggle for Olivia and her grandson Will'm. Olivia grew up behind the family grocery run by her gentle father until her mother is finally released from the asylum. Anything but a loving mother, Ida makes her daughter's life hell.

"A hard lifetime later, Olivia's father is buried out back and her mother is crazier than ever. For some inexplicable reason, the powerful Hunt Club has been viciously killing the local silver-faced wolves, particularly those on the Harker's mountainside property. As the attacks become more personal, Olivia must look far into her past to discover what she knows that is a threat to these rich, unstoppable men.

"Characters with depth and diversity are so interesting that the mystery itself develops almost unnoticed. When it suddenly emmerges, the shock is disturbing. An extremely well-written and amazing first novel that is highly recommended."

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

Also new in stock...

The Laughter of Dead Kings (by Elizabeth Peters; Morrow; $25.95) For the first time in more than a decade, Peters brings beautiful, brainy Vicky Bliss back into the spotlight for one last investigation. But this time the peerless art historian and sleuth will be detecting in Amelia Peabody territory, searching for solutions to more than one heinous offense in the ever-shifting sands of Egypt's mysterious Valley of the Kings.

Wobble to Death (by Peter Lovesey; Soho Constable; $14) Back in print for the first time in over 20 years, Lovesey's first Sergeant Cribb mystery. In 1879, race walking competitions, known as "wobbles," were all the rage. The death of a contender, followed by a second murder, introduces Sergeant Cribb, who goes on to investigate sports-related deaths in a series of eight books.

Blood Memory (by Margaret Coel; Berkley Prime Crime; $24.95) Coel's first stand-alone crime novel. Catherine McLeod is an investigative reporter for the Journal, one of Denver's major newspapers. Her recent coverage of the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes filing a claim for twenty-seven million acres of their ancestral lands has made her the target for assassination. Her investigation uncovers a conspiracy involving her ex-husband's wealthy family and state politicians. And as Catherine unravels the truth, she discovers some startling facts about her own heritage, making her would-be killer all the more desperate to find her. Coel signs here Thursday, September 11th. Signing line numbers available now, with purchase of Blood Memory from Murder By The Book.

Silks (by Dick Francis & Felix Francis; Putnam; $25.95) New horse-racing thriller from the three-time Edgar Award winner. And speaking of racing...

Blood at the Bookies (by Simon Brett; Five Star; $25.95) All bets are on when there's a body found at the bookies...When Jude wanders into Fethering's local bookies she has no idea that she will shortly be investigating the murder of Polish immigrant Tadeusz Jankowski. With her partner in crime, friend and next-door-neighbour Carole, she's determined to discover who killed him -- and why? There are several favorites in the running: A mysterious woman in the bookies? The charming lecturer at the university? Or the mysterious attacker who Jude only narrowly escapes from? Talking to suspects and gathering information, the amateur investigators try to piece together the broken trail of the young immigrant's life. But in this race there's only one winner -- and it could be that they are pipped at the post by a cold and calculated killer.

Moscow Rules (by Daniel Silva; Putnam; $26.95) Only 9 signed first editions left! We discovered a few more signed firsts. If you missed out the first time around, don't pass up what McKenna, Michelle, and Terry believe is Silva's best Gabriel Allon thriller to date.

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

Highly recommended by Martha!

A Question of Proof (by Nicholas Blake; Rue Morgue Press; $14.95) Back in back, the first Nigel Strangeways mystery. Set in an English public school. Blake is one of the best of the Golden Age English mystery writers. I am so grateful to Rue Morgue for reprinting this series!

False Charity (by Veronica Heley; Severn House; $15.95) First in a new series by one of my favorite English mystery writers, the creator of Ellie Quicke. Newly widowed and back in London from a prolonged stay in New Zealand, sixty-something Bea Abbot must decide what to do with her husband's business. The Abbot Agency is an exclusive organization which handles domestic crises such as house clearances, staff problems and entertaining. A fine whodunit with outrageous characters.

Black Seconds (by Karin Fossum; Harcourt; $24) Another superb -- but very dark -- mystery set in Norway. Fossum is a master plotter. For fans of Henning Mankell!

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

Highly recommended by Dean!

Careless in Red (by Elizabeth George; Harper; $24.95) "It has been awhile since I last read Elizabeth George; in fact, I think the most recent book of hers I finished was In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner. I tried A Place of Hiding, but I couldn't stomach whiny Deborah long enough to finish it. When a former colleague expressed the opinion that Careless in Red is George at her very best, I decided to give her another chance. I'm certainly glad I did. George is indeed at her very best in this book, exploring the ripples caused by the murder of an eighteen-year-old boy who was more likely to think with his genitals than with his brain. Her exploration of the effects of this crime is very compelling reading, and her measured and suspenseful manner of peeling away the layers is masterful. Careless in Red goes straight to the top of my list of Best of the Year."

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!]

New York Times best-seller
Kathy Reichs
-- next Friday, September 5, 6:00 p.m.

Two days after the premiere of season four of FOX's Bones, the series creator, New York Times best-seller Dr. Kathy Reichs, will sign & discuss her latest Dr. Tempe Brennan novel, Devil Bones (Scribner; $25.95). Signing line numbers available now, with purchase of Devil Bones from Murder By The Book.

See the two-hour season premiere, Wednesday, September 3, 7:00 p.m., on FOX.
Drop by the store that Friday to hear Dr. Reichs!

Murder By The Book will donate 10% of the sales of Devil Bones to Helping a Hero, a non-profit, non-partisan organization providing support for military personnel, severely injured in the war on terror. Helping a Hero's principal activity is to provide specially adapted homes for qualifying service members as well as engaging the community to provide services and resources for wounded heroes and their families. Go here for more information on Helping a Hero.

Can't make it to the event, but would like to order a signed/inscribed copy from MBTB? Please e-mail or call (888-424-2842 / 713-524-8597) to purchase.

Following her most successful book to date, Kathy Reichs -- international number one best-selling author, forensic anthropologist, and producer of the Fox television hit Bones -- returns to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Temperance Brennan encounters a deadly mix of voodoo, Santería, and devil worship in her quest to identify two young victims.

In a house under renovation, a plumber uncovers a cellar no one knew about, and makes a rather grisly discovery -- a decapitated chicken, animal bones, and cauldrons containing beads, feathers, and other relics of religious ceremonies. In the center of the shrine, there is the skull of a teenage girl. Meanwhile, on a nearby lakeshore, the headless body of a teenage boy is found by a man walking his dog.

Nothing is clear -- neither when the deaths occurred, nor where. Was the skull brought to the cellar or was the girl murdered there? Why is the boy's body remarkably well preserved? Led by a preacher turned politician, citizen vigilantes blame devil worshippers and Wiccans. They begin a witch hunt, intent on seeking revenge.

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan -- "five-five, feisty, and forty-plus" -- is called in to investigate, and a complex and gripping tale unfolds in this, Kathy Reichs's eleventh taut, always surprising, scientifically fascinating mystery.

With a popular series on Fox -- now in its third season and in full syndication -- Kathy Reichs has established herself as the dominant talent in forensic mystery writing. Devil Bones features Reichs's signature blend of forensic descriptions that "chill to the bone" (Entertainment Weekly) and the surprising plot twists that have made her books phenomenal best-sellers in the United States and around the world.

Local mystery writers
Laura Elvebak / Colleen Thompson
-- next Saturday, September 6, 4:30 p.m.

Houston crime writers Laura Elvebak (Less Dead) and Colleen Thompson (Triple Exposure) will sign & discuss their new books.

Laura Elvebak will sign & discuss her debut novel, Less Dead (L&L Dreamspell; trade paperback; $17.95). When a homeless teenage girl wakes up in Houston’s Tranquility Park next to a murdered city councilman and disappears, Homicide Investigator Luis Perez turns to his ex-partner Niki Alexander, now a counselor with a teen shelter, for help in locating the girl.

Three years earlier Niki quit the Houston Police Department after a fatal shooting involving a teenage boy. Haunted by the memory and the guilt, she is driven to help troubled teens who have run away or been abandoned. She soon suspects that the missing teen is the street girl she knows as Jade. Meanwhile teenage prostitutes and runaways are being brutally murdered and she fears Jade may become a victim, if she isn't one already.

With the help of a street thug known as the King of the Street, she discovers a connection between Jade and the murdered man that was not initially apparent. Niki’s search takes her among homeless teens and into predominantly male gay bars where dangerous secrets are revealed. But she isn’t the only one desperate to find the girl. Someone else will do anything to stop her from uncovering the truth.

Laura served two years as chapter president of Mystery Writers of America, Southwest, and is currently the treasurer and newsletter editor. She is also a member of Sisters-In-Crime and their Houston chapter, The Final Twist.

Colleen Thompson will sign & discuss her new novel of suspense, Triple Exposure (Leisure; paperback original; $7.99). A mother's love. A son's life snuffed out. A killer at large. Snapshots of reality, except sometimes layered images do not add up to a whole picture of the truth. Better than anyone, photographer Rachel Copeland knows the camera can lie. That's how lurid altered pictures of her appeared on the Internet, starting a downward spiral that ended with her shooting a nineteen-year-old stalker in self-defense. Fleeing the press and the threats of an unidentified female caller, she retreats to her remote hometown in the Texas desert. In Marfa, where mysterious lights hover in the night sky, folks are used to the unexplainable, and a person's secrets are off limits. But recluse Zeke Pike takes that philosophy even further than Rachel herself. In her viewfinder Zeke's male sensuality is highlighted, his unexpressed longing for human contact revealed. Through a soft-focus lens, she sees a future for them beyond their red-hot affair, never guessing their relationship will expose the lovers to more danger than either can imagine.

"Thompson packs this well-paced thriller full of twists and the local color of a small Texas town.... The red herrings are exquisitely placed, and the climax will surprise even the most jaded of suspense readers." -- Publishers Weekly

Best-selling crime writer
Margaret Coel
-- Thursday, September 11, 6:30 p.m.

The best-selling author of the Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden series will sign & discuss her first stand-alone crime novel, Blood Memory (Berkley Prime Crime; $24.95). Catherine McLeod is an investigative reporter for the Journal, one of Denver's major newspapers. Her recent coverage of the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes filing a claim for twenty-seven million acres of their ancestral lands has made her the target for assassination. Her investigation uncovers a conspiracy involving her ex-husband's wealthy family and state politicians. And as Catherine unravels the truth, she discovers some startling facts about her own heritage, making her would-be killer all the more desperate to find her.

"...a fine combination of historical detail, mystery and pulse pounding terror." — Kirkus Reviews

J. T. Ellison
-- Friday, September 12, stock signing only!

The author of two novels of suspense will drop by and sign copies of All the Pretty Girls (Mira; paperback original; $6.99) and 14 (Mira; paperback original; $6.99).

In All the Pretty Girls, when a local girl falls prey to a sadistic serial killer, Nashville Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson and her lover, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, find themselves in a joint investigation pursuing a vicious murderer. The Southern Strangler is slaughtering his way through the Southeast, leaving a gruesome memento at each crime scene—the prior victim's severed hand. Ambitious TV reporter Whitney Connolly is certain the Southern Strangler is her ticket out of Nashville; she's got a scoop that could break the case. She has no idea how close to this story she really is—or what it will cost her. As the killer spirals out of control, everyone involved must face a horrible truth—the purest evil is born of private lies.

#1 New York Times best-seller
Brad Meltzer
-- Tuesday, September 16, 6:30 p.m.

New York Times best-selling thriller writer Brad Meltzer will sign & discuss his new novel, The Book of Lies (Grand Central; $25.99).

In Chapter Four of the Bible, Cain kills Abel. It is the world’s most famous murder, but the Bible never reveals the weapon Cain used to kill his brother.

In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world’s greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain’s murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found.... Until now.

Today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Cal Harper comes face-to-face with his long-lost father, who’s been shot with a gun that traces back to Mitchell Siegel’s 1932 murder. But before Cal can ask a single question, he and his father are attacked by a ruthless killer tattooed with the ancient markings of Cain. And so begins the chase for the world’s first murder weapon.

What does Cain, history’s greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world’s greatest hero? And what do two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common? This is the mystery at the heart of Brad Meltzer’s riveting new novel.

Meltzer is the author of Identity Crisis, one of DC Comics’ bestselling comic series, which has netted almost 40,000 combined book copies, and well over 800,000 individual issues. He is also the author of the bestselling comic Justice League of America and is the first author to ever reach the #1 spot on both the New York Times and the Diamond comic book bestseller lists simultaneously.

Brad Meltzer speaks: "Every writer has a story they've been waiting their whole life to tell. This is mine. We are a country founded on our own legends and myths, and in this election year, when everyone is pushing hope, it's time to examine just which of our myths are real. So, why did the world get Superman? Because when the father of a young man named Jerry Siegel was murdered, Jerry, in his grief, created a bulletproof man. The book is fiction, but it's based on fact. Most important, The Book of Lies isn't just a thriller about hero and villain -- about Cain and Abel, or about where Superman really comes from. It's a story about us. About parents and children: from Adam to Cain, from Mitchell to Jerry Siegel, from Cal to Lloyd Harper. For me, Superman's story has never been as interesting as Clark Kent 's story -- the idea that all of us, in all our ordinariness, can change the world. The best stories are the ones we believe in. This is one I hope will challenge your beliefs."

New York Times best-seller
Don Winslow
-- Thursday, September 18, 6:30 p.m.

The author of The Winter of Frankie Machine ("another instant classic"—Lee Child) is back with a razor-sharp novel as cool and unbridled as its California surfer heroes, as heart-stopping as a wave none of them sees coming.

Boone Daniels lives to surf. Every morning he’s out in the break off Pacific Beach with the other members of The Dawn Patrol: four men and one woman as single-minded about surfing as he is. Or nearly. They have "real j-o-b-s"; Boone works as a PI just enough to keep himself in fish tacos and wet suits—and in the water whenever the waves are “epic macking crunchy.”

But Boone is also obsessed with the unsolved case of a young girl named Rain who was abducted back when he was on the San Diego police force. He blames himself—just as almost everyone in the department does—for not being able to save her. Now, when he can’t say no to a gorgeous, bossy lawyer who wants his help investigating an insurance scam, he’s unexpectedly staring at a chance to make some amends—and take some revenge—for Rain’s disappearance. It might mean missing the most colossal waves he’s liable to encounter (not to mention putting The Dawn Patrol in serious harm’s way as he tangles with the local thuggery), but this investigation is about to give him a wilder ride than any he’s ever imagined.

Harrowing and funny, righteous and outrageous, The Dawn Patrol is epic macking crunchy from start to finish.

Highly recommended by David & Terry! Only 5 first printings left!

Debut Texas crime writer
Joe Domenici
-- Friday, September 19, 6:00 p.m.

Austin debut crime writer Joe Domenici will sign & discuss his first novel, Bringing Back the Dead (St. Martin's Minotaur; $24.95).

With a style reminiscent of early David Morell and Stephen Hunter, in Bringing Back the Dead, Joe Domenici presents a classic tale of military honor pushed to its outer extreme, and the clash that inevitably occurs when those who use violence to corrupt, meet those who use it to protect.

Newly retired from the U.S. Army Special Forces, and settling into a quiet retirement in the American Southwest, Ted Hickman thought he’d seen his last battle. Then he picked up the phone...

After the horrors of Vietnam, for Larry Yoder, the study of theology made the world make sense again. Until his work as a Pastor took him to Belle Glade, Florida. A town built on dark secrets, and run by an old boy network bent on keeping them buried. Two qualities that made Yoder's devotion to faith and honesty dangerous. And although you won't hear it from the local cops, maybe had something to do with his sudden disappearance. Except, Yoder knows a few people whose loyalty lies outside Belle Glade's channels of power. Like Ted Hickman. Long ago, as a special forces commander in Vietnam, Hickman made a pledge to defend Yoder's life at any cost. So when Hickman gets the call that Yoder is missing, it doesn't take much convincing to get him and some of the old Vietnam "A" team on the first p*** to Belle Glade. A place, located dead in the center of the Florida Everglades, where men with skills honed in the jungles of Southeast Asia might prove useful in getting some answers.

Highly recommended by Terry & Les!

"Bringing Back the Dead is a hell of a first novel, slick and fast and easy and fun to read, as well oiled as a marine's automatic weapon. Joe Domenici's first novel is the beginning of something good." -- Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award-winning author of The Bottoms

Joe Domenici was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico but has spent most of his life in Texas. After his formative years in Houston and college at the University of Houston he traveled and lived in Seattle, Columbus, Ohio and Atlanta before returning to Texas. He currently resides in Austin where is busy at work on the sequel for Bringing Back The Dead. He hopes that these books are a throw back to the action/adventure novels of the 60s and 70s.

He retains strong personal ties and a love of Houston. Before writing Bringing Back The Dead he held many occupations from co-owning a book store, commercial fishing in the Bering Sea, to being a sales representative in the publishing industry for seven years.

After Alistair MacLean's Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare he considers David Morrell's First Blood and Stephen Hunter's Point Of Impact the finest thrillers written. He is also a fan of the Richard Stark Parker series books and has recently discovered A.J. Quinnell's Creasy novels. When asked what his favorite novel is the author names Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. The two books he has read the most times are John Steinbeck's Cannery Row and Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He hopes one day to have a fraction of the talent of these authors.

Signing after that:
David Ciambrone, Earl Staggs, C. R. Cardin, David Handler, Darryl Wimberley, Marion Moore Hill, Carlos Cisneros, Steven LeVine, Archer Mayor, Victoria Laurie, Michael Koryta, Ian Rankin, Stephen Hunter, Kathryn Miller Haines, Clare Langley-Hawthorne, Reed Farrel Coleman, Eric Stone, Sophie Hannah, Michael Genelin, David Liss, Alex Kava (Houston Public Library event only), James Swain, Carolyn Hart (luncheon & store signing), Louise Gaylord, Clare O'Donohue, Michael Connelly (Houston Chronicle Book & Author Dinner), George Pelecanos (Houston Chronicle Book & Author Dinner), Christopher Buckley (Houston Chronicle Book & Author Dinner), Vince Flynn, David Morrell, Katherine Neville (stock signing only!), 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.

Upcoming non-mystery signing...

Steve LeVine
-- Wednesday, October 1, 6:30 p.m.
Sponsored by World Affairs Council of Houston.

Steve LeVine is the author of The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea. He is the chief foreign affairs writer for BusinessWeek and is based in Washington, D.C. He was a foreign correspondent for eighteen years, posted in the Soviet Union, Pakistan, and the Philippines, reporting for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Newsweek, Financial Times, and other publications. He will sign & discuss his recent non-fiction book, Putin's Labyrinth (Random House; $26).

The new Russia is marching in an alarming direction. Emboldened by escalating oil wealth and newfound prominence as a world power, Russia, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, has veered back toward the authoritarian roots planted in Imperial/Czarist times and firmly established during the Soviet era. Though Russia has a new president, Dmitri Medvedev, Putin remains in control, rendering the democratic reforms of the post-Soviet order irrelevant. Now, in Putin’s Labyrinth, acclaimed journalist Steve LeVine, who lived in and reported from the former Soviet Union for more than a decade, provides a penetrating account of modern Russia under the repressive rule of an all-powerful autocrat. LeVine portrays the growth of a “culture of death” -- from targeted assassinations of the state’s enemies to the Kremlin’s indifference when innocent hostages are slaughtered.

Drawing on new interviews with eyewitnesses and the families of victims, LeVine documents the bloodshed that has stained Putin’s two terms as president. Among the incidents chronicled in these pages: The 2002 terrorist takeover of a crowded Moscow theater -- which led to the government gassing the building, and the deaths of more than a hundred terrified hostages -- seen here from new angles, through the riveting words of those who survived; and the murder of courageous investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, shot in the elevator of her apartment building on Putin’s birthday, purportedly as a malicious “gift” for the president from supporters. Finally, a shocking story that made international headlines -- the 2006 death ofdefector Alexander Litvinenko in London -- is dramatized as never before. LeVine traces the steps of this KGB-spy-turned-dissident on his way to being poisoned with polonium-210, a radioactive isotope. And in doing so, LeVine is granted a rare series of interviews with a KGB defector who was nearly killed in strangely similar circumstances fifty years earlier. Through LeVine’s exhaustive research, we come to know the victims as real people, not just names in brief news accounts of how they died.

Putin’s Labyrinth is more than an immensely readable exposé. It is highly personal, with the flavor of a memoir. It is a thoughtful book that examines the perplexing question of how Russians manage to negotiate their way around the ever-present danger of violence. It calculates the emotional toll that this lethal maze is exacting on ordinary people, even as they enjoy a dramatically heightened standard of living. Most ominously, it assesses the reopening of hostilities with the West, and the forces that are driving this major new confrontation.

To order signed/inscribed copies, please e-mail or call Murder By The Book.

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...
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
NoirCon 2010 -- Nov. 4-7, 2010 (Philadelphia, PA) George Pelecanos, Johnny Temple (Akashic Books), and more.

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.)

To ***/change profile: click here

To subscribe: click here

Our address: 2342 Bissonnet
Houston, Texas 77005

Email list management powered by http://MailerMailer.com

Back to newsletter list

Date:

From:

Subject:

Murder By The Book's e-mail newsletter (08/28/08)