Newsletter

  The monthly newsletter, now available on this page, brings complete information on upcoming author events, coming attractions for future months, new signed first editions, and other features, such as announcements of our monthly 'Signed & Selected' picks.
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To review our May newsletter, click here:	Newsletter May, 2008
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"M" is for Mystery Book Club TUESDAY, June 30th at 7:00 PM "M" has its own Book Club that meets in the store. This month the group will discuss The Foreigner by Francie Lin. If you have never attended, and are interested, just drop us an email. Please note: This is not a signing and the author will not be present. For further information click on Book Club notice.

WEDNESDAY, July 1st at 12:00 PM, signing only: CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE - The Thing Around Your Neck (Knopf, $24.95). "A dozen stories about the lives of Nigerians at home and in America from the winner of the Orange Broadband Prize. In the five tales set in the United States, Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun, 2006, etc.) profiles characters both drawn to America and cautious of assimilation... Insightful and illuminating," said Kirkus. Booklist said, "Adichie's graceful and slicing stories of characters struggling with fear, anger, and sorrow beautifully capture the immense resonance of small things as the larger world pitches into incoherence."

THURSDAY, July 2nd at 7:00 PM: JOHN LESCROART - A Plague of Secrets (Penguin, $26.95). "Lescroart's 13th thriller to feature San Francisco defense attorney Dismas Hardy (after Betrayal). When someone shoots Dylan Volger in an alley near the coffee shop he managed, Bay Beans West, the cops discover a load of marijuana in the victim's backpack, a crop of weed growing in his attic and a customer list that includes a judge and several local officials. Suspicion centers on Hardy's client and Bay Beans West's owner, Maya Townshend, who's the sister of a city supervisor and the mayor's niece... An arrogant U.S. attorney decides to turn the trial into a 'career-making moment,' invoking a little-known law to prosecute Maya. Lescroart skillfully juggles myriad plot threads... A brisk pace, sharp dialogue and believable characters," said Publishers Weekly. Kirkus calls it "a whodunit -- and a sharp one at that." ALSO: -- The Motive (Dutton, 2005, $16.00) SIGNED. F / F. -- Nothing but the Truth (Delacorte, 1999, $16.00) SIGNED and INSCRCIBED: "To Kay, all best wishes." F / F. With original San Francisco Chronicle review laid-in.

JULIET BLACKWELL - Secondhand Spirits (Penguin, $6.99, Paperback Original). Lily Ivory feels that she can finally fit in somewhere and conceal her 'witchiness' in San Francisco. It's there that she opens her vintage clothing shop, outfitting customers both spiritually and stylistically.?? Just when things seem normal, a client is murdered and children start disappearing from the Bay Area. Lily has a good idea that some bad phantoms are behind it.

RHYS BOWEN - Royal Flush (Penguin, $24.95). "Still penniless, still 34th in line to the British throne, and living alone in the family house in Belgrave Square, Lady Georgiana launches her latest attempt at a business venture: an escort service for men needing a young lady of good family to have dinner with them. But her first client has the wrong idea about her services. To avoid what could become a scandal, Scotland Yard sends Georgiana to her family estate in Scotland... This third entry (after A Royal Pain) in Bowen's charming, delightfully fresh series earns high marks in painting a nostalgic picture of 1932 England enriched by a look into the royal family's everyday life. Fans of historical cozies... will snap this up," said Library Journal. ALSO -- In a Gilded Cage (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2009, $24.95) SIGNED. AS NEW. "A Molly Murphy Mystery."

ANN PARKER - Leaden Skies (Poisoned Pen, $24.95). PLEASE NOTE: Due to a misprinting, the six-page Author's Note in Leaden Skies will be supplanted by an Author's Note pamphlet full of historical references pertaining to the novel. "Ann Parker's intrepid saloon keeper Inez Stannert (Iron Ties, 2006) is still carrying on a secret affair with the Reverend Justice B. Sands in Leadville, Colorado. It is 1880 and the railroad is coming to town. Former President Ulysses S. Grant arrives along with the train to celebrate the event and look into possible investments. Inez is dealing with the problem of her missing husband while trying to maintain ownership of the saloon. She makes a backroom deal with the local madam, Frisco Flo, hoping to gain some money of her own. When the body of one of Flo's girls turns up, mud starts flying, accompanied in equal measure by political intrigue. Parker has created a lively historical tale with a strong female protagonist. The intricate plot, lively characters, and vividly realized historical landscape will appeal to those interested in the Old West as well as to historical-mystery fans," said Booklist. ALSO -- Iron Ties (Poisoned Pen, 2006, $24.95) SIGNED. VF / VF. AS NEW.

WEDNESDAY, July 8th at 7:00 PM: GREGG HURWITZ - Trust No One (St. Martin's, $24.95). "Late one night, the Secret Service snatches 36-year-old Nick Horrigan, who's led a quiet life since making a fatal mistake in his teens, and whisks him to the San Onofre, Calif., nuclear plant. There a terrorist threatens to set off a bomb unless he can talk to Nick, who hasn't got the slightest idea why he's been summoned. After the terrorist gets his head blown off, Nick realizes this and subsequent events are connected to the death years earlier of his Secret Service agent stepfather... Nick pieces together a string of clues that point to a paternity case against either the U.S. president, Andrew Bilton, or Sen. Jasper Caruthers, Bilton's opponent in an upcoming election... Hurwitz (Last Shot) blasts new life into a well-worn theme -- the prominent politician trying to hide a dark incident from his past -- in this intelligent thriller," said Publishers Weekly. "In a briskly paced case that blends action with insight, Hurwitz puts the clues on the table, then plays the shell game with the reader and wins," said Kirkus.

WEDNESDAY, July 15th at 7:00 PM: JOE LANSDALE - Vanilla Ride (Knopf, $24.95). "Pine and Collins, crime fiction's most lovable miscreants (Captains Outrageous, 2001, etc.), are back in action, filling body bags for the sake of friendship. Leonard Pine, black and emphatically gay, and Hap Collins, white and aggressively heterosexual, behave like brothers... When Leonard turns up at Hap's door with a friend and a mission, he knows he'll be welcomed despite the ungodliness of the hour... Things are further complicated by the arrival of Vanilla Ride, a blue-eyed assassin who gives fresh meaning to the phrase 'killer smile.' Talented Lansdale (Leather Maiden, 2008, etc.) pens another rowdy, raunchy entertainment -- nothing to take seriously but more damn fun than a barrel of Rambos," said Kirkus.

WEDNESDAY, July 15th, drop-by: STEVE MARTINI - Guardian of Lies (HarperCollins, $26.99). "Paul Madriani's chance encounter with 26-year-old Katia Solaz, a Costa Rican beauty, leads to a desperate race to avoid not only personal disaster but also a national one in Martini's sprawling 10th thriller to feature the Southern California defense attorney (after Shadow of Power). Katia, who's living with creepy Emerson Pike, a man old enough to be her grandfather... decides to return home to Costa Rica. In her flight, she just misses running into the legendary assassin known as the Mexecutioner, who sneaks into Pike's house. The naïve Katia and well-meaning Madriani, who meet in a grocery store, provide a welcome human element amid the busy action... Tidbits like how the FBI can use cell phones as remote bugging devices add to the fun," said Publishers Weekly. ALSO -- Undue Influence (Putnam, 1994, $8.00) SIGNED. F / F.

FRIDAY, July 17th, drop-by: JAMES ROLLINS - The Doomsday Key (HarperCollins, $27.99). Publishers Weekly: "Sigma Force director Painter Crowe gathers the usual crew -- Cmdr. Grayson Pierce; Pierce's best friend, Monk Kokkalis; lumbering Joe Kowalski -- to discover why an experimental agriculture site in Africa has been attacked and razed, killing everyone, including a U.S. senator's son... A few of the book's many highlights include genetic manipulation, traitorous beautiful women, illuminated manuscripts, saints, prophecies, curses and miracles. Rollins deftly juggles all this and more as the Sigma team races ... toward an explosive confrontation with the shadowy forces of evil known as the Guild." "[An] amazing and brilliant techno-thriller that might be [James Rollins's] best to date," said Library Journal. ALSO -- The Last Oracle (William Morrow, 2008, $26.95) SIGNED. UNREAD, AS NEW.

SATURDAY, July 18th at 2:00PM at the San Mateo Library: DAVE EGGERS - Zeitoun (McSweeney's, $24.00), in conversation with John McMurtrie, Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared. Eggers's riveting nonfiction book, three years in the making, explores Zeitoun's roots in Syria, his marriage to Kathy -- an American who converted to Islam -- and their children, and the surreal atmosphere (in New Orleans and the United States generally) in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun was possible. Like What Is the What, Zeitoun was written in close collaboration with its subjects and involved vast research -- in this case, in the United States, Spain, and Syria.

SUNDAY, July 19th at 2:00 PM: MIKE BEFELER - Living with Your Kids is Murder (Five Star, $25.95). "A memory-challenged senior drives the police crazy perpetrating what looks like a one-geezer crime spree. Paul Jacobson (Retirement Homes Are Murder, 2007) is still on the plane from Hawaii when it begins. Waking from a nap, he shoves the guy in the next seat off his shoulder and discovers that Daniel Reynolds, sales rep for Colorado Mountain Retirement Properties, isn't sleeping. He's dead. Too bad Paul can't remember a thing about the murder. His memory resets every time he falls asleep, so if he hadn't found the note he left in his own shirt pocket, he wouldn't even have known he was flying to Denver to move in with his son Denny and daughter-in-law Allison in Boulder... It gets so bad that Paul's prepubescent granddaughter Jennifer volunteers to act as his lawyer, with payment in Hawaiian stuffed toys. It's hard to beat a team that includes a wisecracking old fart and a straight-talking young sprout, and Befeler's second geezer-lit entry delivers," said Kirkus.

MEGAN ABBOTT - Bury Me Deep (Simon & Schuster, $15.00, Trade Paperback Original). "A neglected young wife falls hard and fast in this hard-boiled Jazz Age crime novel. Dr. Everett Seeley should never have left Marion alone. After losing his medical license due to his morphine habit, the good doctor took a job in Mexico and assumed his young bride was too fragile to follow. Instead, as this fast and furious noir opens, he sets her up in a tiny Phoenix apartment with a job in a private clinic, where she is soon taken under the wing of Louise, a tough but caring nurse, and Louise's giddy roommate, the tubercular Ginny... Working once more (as in The Song is You, 2007) from a true crime, the infamous Brighton Trunk Murders of 1934, Edgar-winner Abbott brings the era to life, inhabiting the 'bright-eyed and twitchy-tailed' party girls in all their enthusiasm and desperation. Her nearly stream-of-consciousness narration is direct and powerful... Abbott takes readers on a wild thrill ride with an utterly believable and strangely sympathetic heroine," said Kirkus. ALSO -- The Song is You (Simon & Schuster Trade Paperback First Edition Reprint, $14.00) AS SIGNED.

THERESA SCHWEGEL - Last Known Address (St. Martin's, $24.99). "Recently transferred from homicide to sex crimes, Chicago police detective Sloane Pearson pursues a serial rapist in Edgar-winner Schwegel's gritty fourth crime novel. Called in to interview the second in a series of victims who were beaten, raped and nearly strangled to death, Pearson knows the only way she'll have a case is if the traumatized woman will talk. But without a crime scene or detailed description of the attacker, Pearson's leads dry up fast. As she retraces the victims' steps, she uncovers a common thread that winds from the dilapidated blocks where the rapes occurred to one of the city's glitzy property development companies... Schwegel ratchets up the tension, leaving readers breathless through to the last page," said Publishers Weekly. Kirkus said, "Schwegel ... can out-hard-boil the best of them... Few women writers can match her, and few men either."

TUESDAY, July 21st at 7:00 PM: BRETT BATTLES - Shadow of Betrayal (Delacorte, $25.00). The meeting place was carefully chosen: an abandoned church in rural Ireland just after dark. For Jonathan Quinn -- a freelance operative and professional 'cleaner' -- the job was only to observe. If his cleanup skills were needed, it would mean things had gone horribly wrong. But an assassin hidden in a tree assured just that. And suddenly Quinn had four dead bodies to dispose of and one astounding clue -- to a mystery that is about to spin wildly out of control. Fast, smart, sleek, and stunning, Shadow of Betrayal is vintage Brett Battles: a gritty, gripping masterpiece of suspense, a thriller that makes the pulse pound -- and stirs the heart as well.

SATURDAY, July 25th at 2:00 PM: DAVID MORRELL - The Shimmer (Vanguard, $25.95). Library Journal: "The Rostov Lights in Texas have been around for hundreds of years. People are drawn to the site to look -- some see them, others don't -- but all are affected in some way. New Mexican police officer Dan Page follows his wife, Tori, to the site, determined to discover the cause of her fascination with the lights. Multiple points of view, minute-by-minute current events, and historical flashbacks detailing previous encounters with the lights converge, as Page finds himself at the center of a disaster... Morrell (Scavenger), known as the father of the modern action novel, fleshes out his usual action-packed style with a surprisingly delicate love story in this tale inspired in part by the true-life phenomenon of the Marfa Lights in Texas." ALSO -- Burnt Sienna (Warner, 2000, $8.00) SIGNED. VF / VF. AS NEW.

SUNDAY, July 26th at 2:00 PM: ELIZABETH SIMS - The Extra (St. Martin's, $25.95). "In Sims's entertaining second Rita Farmer misadventure (after 2008's The Actress), Rita, a struggling single mom, is taking bit acting roles to help pay for law school. On break from a location film shoot, Rita, costumed as a police officer, manages to scare off a pair of muggers attacking a black boy, who turns out to be the grandson of Amaryllis B. Cubitt, the well-respected founder of an ambitious homeless mission in South Central Los Angeles. When a Rita-look-alike cop is gunned down soon after, Rita suspects there's something sinister going on at the mission ... the action builds to a satisfying conclusion. Appealing characters, amusing subplots and the steamy L.A. setting are a plus," said Publishers Weekly.

MONDAY, July 27th at 7:00 PM: JULIE KRAMER - Missing Mark (Knopf, $25.00). "A for-sale ad for a never worn wedding dress sparks Minneapolis TV reporter Riley Spartz to chase an intriguing story in Kramer's slick sequel to 2008's Stalking Susan. Wealthy Madeleine Post's comedian fiancé, Mark Lefevre, didn't show up for their lavish White Bear Lake wedding and hasn't been seen since. Is Mark, who looks like Groucho Marx, a runaway groom or a crime victim? Meanwhile, Riley is also under pressure to pursue a big story about the theft of Big Mouth Billy Bass, the Minnesota record largemouth bass, from a mall aquarium. Kramer makes the most of a clever ... idea in this fun mystery thriller," said Publishers Weekly. ALSO -- Stalking Susan (Doubleday, 2008, $22.95) SIGNED. AS NEW.

"M" is for Mystery Book Club TUESDAY, July 28th at 7:00 PM "M" has its own Book Club that meets in the store. This month the group will discuss The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. If you have never attended, and are interested, just drop us an email. Please note: This is not a signing and the author will not be present. For further information click on Book Club notice.

LINDA CASTILLO - Sworn to Silence (St. Martin's, $24.95) SIGNED. "A gun-toting, cursing, former Amish female chief of police stars in this excellent first in a new suspense series from romance veteran Castillo (Fade to Red). When a serial killer strikes bucolic Painters Mill, Ohio, the killer's signature -- Roman numerals ritualistically carved into each victim's abdomen -- matches the MO of four unsolved murders from 16 years earlier. Police chief Kate Burkholder, who's reluctant to dredge up the past, must keep secret that she knows why the old murders stopped... Adept at creating characters with depth and nuance, Castillo smoothly integrates their backstories into a well-paced plot that illuminates the divide between the Amish and 'English' worlds," said Publishers Weekly.

JANET EVANOVICH - Finger Lickin' Fifteen (St. Martin's, $27.95) SIGNED. Publishers Weekly: "When Lula inadvertently witnesses the beheading of culinary TV star Stanley Chipotle in a Trenton, NJ, alley, Stephanie's on-again off-again boyfriend, cop Joe Morelli, reluctantly takes the case. Lula, with the help of Grandma Mazur, enters the same barbequing competition Chipotle was in town to promote, hoping to lure the murderers out of hiding. Meanwhile, Ranger has recruited Stephanie to help solve a series of break-ins at properties under the protection of Rangeman Security. The inevitable sparks fly between Stephanie and Ranger, with Morelli grumbling on the sidelines." ALSO: Special Deal! Buy the new one plus any one or more of these previous titles and take 10% OFF ALL! -- Four to Score (Minotaur, 1998, $29.00) SIGNED and INSCRIBED: "To Kay, Sally Forth." F / F. -- Visions of Sugar Plums (St. Martin's, 2002, $5.00) UNSIGNED. VF / VF. AS NEW. -- Plum Lucky (St. Martin's, 2007, $6.00) UNSIGNED. VF / VF. AS NEW.

BRAD THOR - The Apostle (Simon & Schuster, $26.99) SIGNED. A new administration and a new approach to dealing with America's enemies have left covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath without a job. But when American doctor Julia Gallo is kidnapped in Afghanistan, the terms of her ransom leave the president with only one course of action... In a dangerous assignment that the United States government will deny any knowledge of, Scot Harvath must secretly infiltrate Kabul's notorious Policharki Prison and free the man the kidnappers demand as ransom -- al-Qaeda mastermind, Mustafa Khan... Brimming with the kind of ripped-from-the-headlines authenticity Brad Thor's internationally bestselling novels are known for, The Apostle doubles down on the blockbuster success of The Last Patriot and reaffirms Thor's status as the master of the political thriller.

AYELET WALDMAN - Bad Mother (Knopf, $24.95) SIGNED. Publishers Weekly: "Having aroused the ire of righteous mothers with her confession to loving her husband more than her children, Waldman (Love and Other Impossible Pursuits) offers similar boldface opinions in 18 rather defensive essays. The mother of four, living in Berkeley and married for 15 years to an ideal partner who told her on their first date that he wanted to be a stay-at-home husband and father (he also happens to be novelist Michael Chabon), Waldman was a Jewish girl who grew up in 1970s suburban New Jersey, where her mother introduced her to Free to Be You and Me and instilled in her the importance of becoming a working mother... Waldman writes in these well-fashioned essays how a mother's best intentions frequently go awry."

LAWRENCE BLOCK - Step by Step: A Pedestrian Memoir (Harper Collins, $24.99) SIGNED. Before Lawrence Block was the author of bestselling novels featuring unforgettable characters such as the hit man Keller, private investigator Matthew Scudder, burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, and time traveler Evan Tanner, he was a walker... Through the lens of his adventures while walking -- in twenty-four-hour races, on a pilgrimage through Spain, and just about everywhere you can imagine -- Lawrence Block shares his heartwarming personal story about life's trials and tribulations, discomforts and successes, which truly lets readers walk a mile in the master of mystery's shoes. ALSO: -- Hit and Run (Harper Collins, 2008, $24.95) SIGNED, NEW. -- Tanner on Ice (Penguin, 1998, $5.00) SIGNED, VF / VF, AS NEW. -- The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling (Penguin, 1996, $7.00) UNSIGNED, F / F. -- Burglars Can't Be Choosers (Penguin, 1995, $6.00) UNSIGNED, NF+ / F-, remainder mark. -- A Long Line of Dead Men (William Morrow, 1994, $6.00) UNSIGNED, F / F. -- The Devil Knows You're Dead (William Morrow, 1993, $4.00) UNSIGNED, F / F. -- One Night Stands and Lost Weekends (HarperCollins, 2008, Trade paperback original in this format, $29.00) SIGNED, NEW, this dual volume has a new introduction by Block. One Night Stands was originally published in 1999. Lost Weekends was originally published as The Lost Cases of Ed London in 2001.

C. J. BOX - Below Zero (Penguin, $24.95) SIGNED. "Edgar-finalist Box's ninth novel to feature Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett begins with a bombshell: could Pickett's foster daughter, April, who apparently died six years earlier in a horrific conflagration when overzealous FBI agents confronted a group of dissident survivalists (see 2003's Winterkill), still be alive? Pickett's 17-year-old daughter, Sheridan, begins receiving disturbing text messages from someone claiming to be her dead sister, and Pickett's entire family is forced to relive the tragedy. Even worse, whoever is sending these messages is traveling cross-country with suspected serial killers... Powered by provocative themes of environmental activism, this relentlessly paced powder keg of a thriller could be Box's best to date," said Publishers Weekly. ALSO -- Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (St. Martin's, 2009, $24.95) SIGNED and DATED, NEW.

JOSEPH CALDWELL - The Pig Comes to Dinner (Delphinium, $22.95) SIGNED. "In Caldwell's fun second installment to his Pig Trilogy (after The Pig Did It), Irish writer Kitty McCloud and husband Kieran Sweeney battle to stave off specters threatening to destroy their newfound nuptial bliss. The beautiful ghosts of Taddy and Brid haunt Castle Kissane, the couple's new abode, as well as their dreams and desires. Then the very real Lord Shaftoe appears after his family's two-century-long absence to reclaim the keep. Onto the scene trots the 'lesbian' pig, whose ramblings and rootings could destroy the lovely estate -- or help save it. ...humor and sadness, the past and the present, all live side-by-side, and it is all Kitty can do to tell them apart, much less keep the ghosts at bay," said Publishers Weekly. Library Journal said, "This charming ... hilarious tale serves as a satisfying story as well as a quiet commentary on the sympathetic relationship between imagination and compassion." ALSO -- The Pig Did It (Delphinium, 2009, Trade paperback, $13.99) NOW 20% OFF! PLEASE NOTE: The Pig Comes to Dinner is our June 'S&S' II selection.

MICHAEL CONNELLY - Scarecrow (Little Brown, $27.99) SIGNED. "Bestseller Connelly comments on the plight of print journalism in a nail-biting thriller featuring reporter Jack McEvoy, last seen in 2004's The Narrows. When Jack is laid off from the L.A. Times with 14 days' notice to tie up loose ends, he decides to go out with a bang. What starts as a story about the wrongful arrest of a young gangbanger for the brutal rape and murder of an exotic dancer turns out to be just the tip of an iceberg that takes McEvoy from the Nevada desert to a futuristic data-hosting facility in Arizona. FBI agent Rachel Walling, with whom he worked on a serial killer case in 1996's The Poet, soon joins the hunt, but as the pair uncover more about the killer and his unsettling predilections, they realize that they too are being hunted... This magnificent effort is a reminder of why Connelly is one of today's top crime authors," said Publishers Weekly. ALSO: Special Deal: Buy the US and/or UK edition of The Scarecrow plus any one or more of these previous titles and take 10% OFF ALL! -- The Scarecrow (Orion, 2009, $47.00) SIGNED, 1st UK edition with smaller print run and different dust jacket than the US edition. -- The Brass Verdict (Little Brown 2008, Specially Priced at $17.00!) SIGNED. NEW. -- Echo Park (Little Brown 2006, $7.00) SIGNED and INSCRIBED "To John & Desiree, All the best from Harry Bosch! Cheers." F / F. -- The Closers (Little Brown 2005, $8.00) SIGNED. F / F. -- Lost Light (Little Brown 2003, $5.00) SIGNED. NF / F. Slight spine slant.

JOHN CONNOLLY - The Lovers (Simon & Schuster, $26.00) SIGNED & DATED. "Bestseller Connolly once again expertly melds a hard-boiled plot with the supernatural in his eighth Charlie Parker crime novel (after The Reapers). While previous books in the series explored the trauma at the heart of Parker's backstory, the murder of the PI's wife and daughter, this one examines an equally devastating family trauma -- the suicide of his New York City policeman father, Will, after Will gunned down two unarmed teenagers decades earlier. As Parker, who was 15 at the time, seeks the truth about his ancestry, he comes to doubt that he was raised by his biological parents... The underlying grim sadness and Connolly's unwillingness to pull his punches will appeal to noir fans, while his effective use of understatement and evocative prose makes his alternate universe plausible," said Publishers Weekly.

ANDREW GRANT - Even (St. Martin's, $24.95) SIGNED & DATED. Publishers Weekly starred: "Jason Bourne fans will welcome Grant's thrill-packed debut, which introduces Lt. Cdr. David Trevellyan, of Royal Navy Intelligence. Near the end of a mission in New York City, Trevellyan's chance discovery late one night of a bum in an alley with six neatly arranged bullet holes in his chest makes the secret operative the NYPD's prime suspect in the man's murder. After the FBI takes over the case, Trevellyan learns the victim was an undercover agent for the bureau, the sixth to die in a series of killings. Disavowed by his British bosses, Trevellyan realizes he has to fend for himself in what is clearly some sort of frameup... Grant, bestseller Lee Child's younger brother, never strikes a false note in a plot that could have gone over-the-top in lesser hands. Effortlessly filling in bits of his protagonist's backstory during breathing spaces between action scenes, Grant closes on a nicely dark note."

JOHN HART - The Last Child (Minotaur, $24.95) SIGNED & DATED. Booklist starred: "Not that we needed any further proof, after the superb King of Lies (2008) and Down River (2007), but Hart once again demonstrates that he is a remarkable storyteller. Somebody has abducted Johnny Merrimon's twin sister, Alyssa. Thirteen-year-old Johnny hasn't been able to let her go, and even now, a year later, he is still scouring his North Carolina town, looking in every dark place, in the belief that his sister may still be alive and close by... Hart once again produces a novel that is elegant, haunting, and memorable. His characters are given an emotional depth that genre characters seldom have, and the graceful, evocative prose lifts his stories right out of their genre and into the realm of capital-L literature. A must-read for every variety of fiction reader."

ALEKSANDAR HEMON - Love and Obstacles (Penguin, $25.95) SIGNED. "Bosnian-born Hemon (The Lazarus Project) again beautifully twists the language in this collection of eight powerful and disquieting stories. The 1992 Bosnian war colors in the background of all the tales, whose settings range from Africa to Chicago and Sarajevo. Arranged chronologically, all but one feature a Hemon-like narrator named Bogdan... Writing with steely control and an antic eye, Hemon has assembled another extraordinary work," said Publishers Weekly. "The pattern of leaving and returning, and gaining melancholy wisdom in the process, holds Hemon's linked coming-of-age stories together with drifting beauty," said The San Francisco Chronicle.

CRAIG JOHNSON - Dark Horse (Penguin, $24.95) SIGNED and DATED. "In Johnson's superb fifth contemporary mystery to feature Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire (after 2008's Another Man's Moccasins), Walt has his doubts about Mary Barsad's guilt when she confesses to shooting her husband, Wade, after Wade allegedly burned down their barn with all Mary's horses inside. Even though the crime is out of his jurisdiction in a neighboring county, Walt can't shake the feeling that there's more to Mary's story. Posing as an insurance agent, Walt starts poking around the tiny town of Absalom... Walt digs deep into the dilapidated town's history, unearthing secrets that might be better left buried. Series fans will delight in seeing Walt return to his cowboy roots as he mounts a horse and navigates the sparsely populated state," said Publishers Weekly. Kirkus said, "Walt's fifth is stunningly descriptive and compulsively readable." ALSO: Special Deal! Buy the new one and this previous title and take 10% OFF BOTH! -- Another Man's Moccasins (Penguin, 2008, $24.95) SIGNED and DATED, NEW.

ELMORE LEONARD - Road Dogs (HarperCollins, $26.99) SIGNED. "Leonard launches three characters from previous novels on a collision course in this seemingly effortless performance. After prison buddy Cundo Rey (last seen in LaBrava) drops a bundle on a shark attorney, celebrity bank robber Jack Foley (from Out of Sight) gets his 30-year prison sentence reduced to 30 months. Jack's quickly back in the world, living large in one of Cundo's two multimillion-dollar houses in Venice, Calif., juggling a fast seduction with fortune-teller (from Riding the Rap) Dawn Navarro (who is now Cundo's lady) and the untoward attention of rogue FBI agent Lou Adams, who's waiting for Foley to rob another bank... Leonard's singular way with words is reason enough to read it," said Publishers Weekly. "[Leonard] still writes with high style, great energy, unflappable cool and a jubilant love of the game. As ever, his scorn for fussy prose is best expressed through his own superbly lean locutions," said The New York Times.

REIF LARSEN - The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet (Penguin, $27.95) SIGNED. "Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet is a mapmaker whose highly accomplished drawings have appeared in exhibitions at the Smithsonian and have garnered him the coveted Baird Prize, for which he is asked to come to Washington, DC, and deliver an acceptance speech. Unbeknown to everyone, T.S. Spivet is a 12-year-old boy who lives on a Montana ranch with his cowboy father, scientist mother, and bored teenage sister. Unwilling to forgo his award by revealing his age, T.S. secretly hops a freight train and travels to DC... Debut novelist Larsen's writing is as detailed and absorbing as a map... the overall story is a delightful and poignant adventure," said Library Journal.

CHRISTIAN MOERK - Darling Jim (Henry Holt, $25.00) SIGNED. Publishers Weekly starred: "Like the itinerant Irish storyteller at the crux of this riveting novel, Danish-born author Moerk mixes mythology, Arthurian legend, fairy tales, noir and horror in his American debut. When reclusive Moira Hegarty and her two nieces, Fiona and Róisín Walsh, are found dead in Moira's secluded home in a Dublin suburb, evidence suggests the sisters were imprisoned for months by their aunt, along with a third person, perhaps Róisín's twin sister. The young women left behind two diaries, one of which a postal clerk finds. Three years before, they fell under the spell of Jim Quick, a séanachai (or bard), whose tales of wolves and kings gave him rock star status in the sleepy town of Castletownbere. Only the Walsh sisters appear to have seen beyond the charm of 'darling Jim,' whose presence coincides with several women's murders. Moerk tightly meshes each separate plot strand -- the murders, the diaries and Quick's tales -- into an enthralling story that never falters."

ELIOT PATTISON - The Lord of Death (Soho Crime, $24.00) SIGNED. Booklist starred: "Readers seeking a change from urban whodunits have embraced Edgar Award-winner Pattison's superlative series set in ethereal, enigmatic, long-enduring Tibet. Shan Tao Yun, disgraced Beijing investigator and survivor of a Tibetan gulag, now spends his days quietly dwelling among residents of the 'Roof of the World'... In this sixth installment (after Prayer of the Dragon, 2007), Shan is transporting a corpse over the slopes of Mt. Everest when he hears gunfire. Two women -- a Chinese minister and an outspoken American hiker -- have been shot and left for dead at the side of the road. The Chinese authorities are quick to blame the inhabitants of a local village, who have long harbored animosity toward a government that sees Tibet's majestic mountains as little more than a tourist commodity. Shan questions revered soothsayers and surly colonels in search of answers, ever aware that the survival of his son Ko -- currently imprisoned in a Chinese asylum -- depends on his success. Pattison serves as literary ambassador to beautiful, brutal Tibet in a tale that engages, enlightens, and entertains."

DOUGLAS PRESTON and LINCOLN CHILD - Cemetery Dance (Grand Central, $26.99) SIGNED BY BOTH. Bestsellers Preston and Child's ninth suspenseful tale of urban terror to feature FBI special agent Aloysius Pendergast (after The Wheel of Darkness). "William Smithback, a New York Times reporter, and his wife, Nora Kelly, an anthropologist with the New York Museum of Natural History, are celebrating their first anniversary when Smithback is fatally stabbed in their Manhattan apartment, apparently by a creepy neighbor, Colin Fearing, an out-of-work British actor. Given eyewitness descriptions of the killer, including one from Kelly herself, as well as surveillance footage showing a blood-stained Fearing emerging from the apartment building right after the crime, the case appears to be open and shut -- until Pendergast and his NYPD ally, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta, learn that Fearing died almost two weeks earlier. This taut page-turner can only add to the authors' growing fan base," said Publishers Weekly.

NANCY TAYLOR ROSENBERG - The Cheater (Forge, $24.95) SIGNED. FBI Agent Mary Stevens ... is tracking a killer who murders husbands who are cheating on their wives, their mutilated bodies disposed of in ghastly ways and strange locations. Bryce Forrester -- Lily's husband -- calls her from a Las Vegas jail where he's been arrested for attempted rape -- even though Las Vegas was not on his itinerary. Anne Bradley -- Bryce's accuser, like Lily, is a woman with an eerie past -- an enigmatic figure to whom Lily is strangely drawn. The trail leads back to a Web service that provides alibis for cheating spouses and into a thick web of deception that puts both Lily's and Mary's lives in jeopardy. Do you know where your husband is? ALSO: Special Deal: Buy the new one plus any one or more of these previous titles and take 10% OFF BOTH! -- Buried Evidence (Hyperion, 2000, $4.00) UNSIGNED, VF / VF, AS NEW. -- First Offense (Dutton, 1994, $7.00) SIGNED, NF / F, Bottom corners of book somewhat compressed. -- Trial by Fire (Penguin, 1996, $14.00) SIGNED, F / F.

GREG RUCKA - Walking Dead (Bantam, $25.00) SIGNED & DATED. "In Rucka's adrenaline-filled seventh novel to feature ex-bodyguard Atticus Kodiak (after Patriot Acts), Atticus and his ex-assassin lover, Alena Cizkova, are living under assumed names in the remote town of Kobuleti in the Republic of Georgia. When the family of their next-door neighbor, Bakhar Lagidze, is slaughtered and Bakhar's 14-year-old daughter, Tiasa, is kidnapped, Atticus vows to do anything to get her back... Series fans who have come to expect a nonstop thrill ride with a topical angle won't be disappointed," said Publishers Weekly.

JOHN SANDFORD - Wicked Prey (Penguin, $27.95) SIGNED. "The 2008 Republican convention serves as the backdrop for bestseller Sandford's amped-up, ultra-violent 19th thriller to feature Lucas Davenport of the Minneapolis Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (after Phantom Prey). An assassination plot aimed at John McCain turns out to be just a sidebar to another criminal operation - extremely slick thieves have come to the twin cities to rob Republican political operatives loaded down with millions of dollars of 'street money,' illegal handouts for low-level campaign workers... A slam-bang shootout climax proves that Davenport still has what it takes when it comes to guts and gunplay," said Publishers Weekly. ALSO -- Secret Prey (Putnam, 1998, $8.00) SIGNED, NF / F, slight spine slant.

MICHAEL STANLEY - The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu (HarperCollins, $25.99) SIGNED & DATED by coauthors Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Booklist starred: "Deceptively dangerous Assistant Superintendent Kubu stars in a brilliant sequel to last year's A Carrion Death. When two guests turn up dead at tourist camp, Kubu crosses Botswana to investigate. The case seems likely to link back to the Zimbabwe civil war, as fingerprint records show the dead man on the casualty lists of a 1980 farm raid. Stanley (the pseudonym for the writing team of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollop) is not content with a single plot line, effectively juggling the murders with cross-border drug smuggling and the circumstances surrounding an upcoming African Union meeting. Kubu, a dedicated gourmand, is just one of many fully fleshed and charmingly realistic characters... each character is memorable and adds depth to this tense and involving police procedural. Suggest to fans of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, who will appreciate Kubu's laid-back style and happy home life, and to Henning Mankell fans, who will respond to the complex plots and palpable sense of place."

NICK STONE - The King of Swords (HarperCollins, $25.99) SIGNED BOOKPLATE. "At the start of Stone's chilling second thriller, set in the early 1980s and the prequel to Mr. Clarinet (2007), Det. Sgt. Max Mingus and his black partner, Det. Joe Liston, think a decomposed body discovered in a primate park in Miami, Fla., is just one of the city's more bizarre murders. But when a tarot card -- the ominous King of Swords -- is found in the victim's stomach and his entire family killed, it's clear something darker is at work... The violence is every bit as gruesome as in Clarinet, but Stone expertly harnesses it to propel his multilayered saga of good, evil and everything in between," said Publishers Weekly. Library Journal adds, "This series entry builds on Stone's award-winning debut, with Mingus more complex this time and resulting in an even better read."

AMANDA EYRE WARD - Love Stories in this Town (Random House, $14.00, Trade paperback original) SIGNED & DATED. "Ward's powerful first collection (after three novels) travels from Montana to Saudi Arabia, tackling love, terrorism and grave matters of the heart... The way Ward balances ruefulness and hope is singularly impressive," said Publishers Weekly. "By now, 9/11 has established itself as a marker in modern literature. Ward uses it to touching effect in the first story in this lovely collection about ordinary people trying to find meaningful love... Ward's often bewildered characters' efforts to keep trying to get it right is romantic courage at its most vulnerable. Strongly recommended," said Library Journal. And Kirkus adds, "Novelist Ward (Forgive Me, 2008, etc.) gently and discreetly invites us into her characters' lives. The author's quiet, understated stories pack a paradoxical punch. They also reveal their author as a master of the beguiling opening sentence... Luminous work from a gifted writer."

SARAH WATERS - The Little Stranger (Penguin, $26.95) SIGNED. "Waters (The Night Watch) reflects on the collapse of the British class system after WWII in a stunning haunted house tale whose ghosts are as horrifying as any in Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Doctor Faraday, a lonely bachelor, first visited Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked as a parlor maid, at age 10 in 1919. When Faraday returns 30 years later to treat a servant, he becomes obsessed with Hundreds's elegant owner, Mrs. Ayres; her 24-year-old son, Roderick, an RAF airman wounded during the war who now oversees the family farm; and her slightly older daughter, Caroline, considered a 'natural spinster' by the locals, for whom the doctor develops a particular fondness... Faraday, one of literature's more unreliable narrators, carries the reader swiftly along to the devastating conclusion," said Publishers Weekly. And Library Journal said, "Few authors do dread as well as Waters."

JACK CADY: The Well (Centipede, $79.00) SIGNED by Tom Piccirilli. Edition of 250, SIGNED, numbered, and introduction by Tom Piccirilli. Jack Cady's classic novel of evil is brought to new life in an expanded edition. Built by three generations obsessed with satanic superstition and violence, the house of the Trackers is a monstrous labyrinth of horrors designed to thwart the devil. This edition of The Well features a new introduction by Tom Piccirilli and two of Jack Cady's best short stories, The Sounds of Silence, and I Take Care of Things. Also reprinted is Cady's Hugo and Nebula-winning novella The Night We Buried Road Dog and a fourth piece, the stunning war novella By Reason of Darkness.

ELLIOT CHAZE - Black Wings Has My Angel (Centipede, $80.00) SIGNED by Bill Pronzini and Joe Servello. Edition of 300. Over 6 x 9 inches, three-piece Japanese cloth construction with printed silk panels, ribbon marker, patterned endsheets and a stunning design. Elliot Chaze's masterpiece of crime fiction, Black Wings Has My Angel, is an acknowledged cult classic since its publication back in the 1950s, and Bill Pronzini pulls out all the stops in discussing the book and its elusive author, Elliot Chaze. Tastefully designed, this is the definitive edition of this book, now available, for the first time ever, in a handsome hardcover edition. The book is quarterbound in Japanese cloth with a printed image by Joe Servello on the front panel cloth.

MICHAEL CONNELLY: The Scarecrow (Dennis McMillan, 2009, $250). True First. Edition 1/156 copies SIGNED and lettered by the author, bound in quarter-pigskin morocco with hand-made paper-covered boards, slipcased. Reporter Jack McEvoy and FBI Agent Rachel Walling are reunited for the first time since The Poet. Jack McEvoy is at the end of the line as a crime reporter. Forced to take a buy-out from the Los Angeles Times as the newspaper grapples with dwindling revenues, he's got only a few days left on the job. His last assignment? Training his replacement, a low-cost reporter just out of journalism school. But Jack has other plans for his exit. He is going to go out with a bang -- a final story that will win the newspaper journalism's highest honor -- a Pulitzer Prize.

KENT HARRINGTON: The Good Physician (Dennis McMillan, 2008, $225). Edition 1/156 copies SIGNED and lettered by the author, bound in quarter-pigskin morocco with hand-made paper-covered boards, slipcased. Booklist starred: "Everyone runs out of luck some place... It was just a question of where." In the course of not quite 300 pages, that question is answered for most of the cast in Harrington's superb thriller. Collin Reeves is a doctor at the American embassy in Mexico City; he's also a CIA agent, but he's largely ignored by the Company, left to spend his days playing at becoming a painter. Then the Muslim owner of a hotel across the street from Collin's apartment asks the doctor to treat an American guest. So begins Collin's transformation from dilettante to reluctant anti-terrorist to disgusted man of action. It starts when he falls in love with the sick 'American,' who turns out to be a beautiful Iraqi woman who may be involved with terrorists who have brought a bomb into Mexico City... Duck if you can, the good doctor learns, but recognize when you've reached that place where your luck runs out, and try to act with as much grace as you can muster. This will remind many of John le Carré's Absolute Friends (2004), but it is less ideological and more unflinching in its willingness to examine the humanity of the terrorist and the inhumanity of terrorism."

RICHARD NEELY - The Plastic Nightmare (Centipede, $69.00). Over 6 x 9 inches, three-piece Japanese cloth construction, ribbon marker, patterned endsheets and a beautiful design. The Plastic Nightmare explores a psychological depth and depravity seldom found in noir fiction. Called the 'de Sade' of the genre by Ed Gorman, Neely's haunting foray into the politics of memories, madness and identity is given a beautiful hardcover treatment, the first time ever in the United States. With a new introduction by Gorman and a long, previously out of print interview with Neely, this is a new, definitive edition. Interior artwork by Don Brautigam. Also includes a reproduction of the first edition Ace paperback cover art.

JIM THOMPSON - Child of Rage (Centipede, $69.00) SIGNED by Ed Gorman and Harry O. Morris. Edition of 250. One of Jim Thompson's most bitter and sexually explicit novels, Child of Rage still has the ability to shock readers over 30 years after its original publication. With a new introduction by Ed Gorman, an interview with Thompson's original paperback publisher, two original color works by Harry O. Morris, created just for this edition, two photographs of Jim Thompson himself, and a bonus novella by Thompson, A Horse in the Baby's Bathtub, long out of print, this is the definitive edition of this raunchy classic. PLEASE NOTE: We have one copy of Child of Rage with a slight crease in one of the book's corners for $59.00.

CHARLES WILLIAMS - The Hot Spot (Centipede, $65.00). Over 6 x 9 inches, three-piece Japanese cloth construction, ribbon marker, patterned endsheets, with a printed image by Joe Servello on the front panel cloth and a brilliant and insightful introduction by Bill Pronzini, this marks the first-ever United States hardcover edition of this classic. This is only one of the two of his 21 novels currently in print. When it was first published, it was reviewed by Anthony Boucher in the N.Y. Times who lauded it as "a most ingeniously plotted series of crimes... a fine ironic, exciting story."

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