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Aug 26, 2011

Snippets

From the bought/borrowed but didn't have time to read pile - until now that is.

You are next (bought) by Katia Lief

Former detective takes on the Domino killer - who wiped out her husband and son - and has just escaped from prison.  Taught, tense and scary.

Shoot to Thrill (borrowed) by PJ Tracy

Minneapolis' Monkeewrenchers are at it again.  This time they 'assist' the FBI in tracking down a killer who posts his kills on YouTube.  Plenty of twists turns and the cop humour of Rolseth and Magozzi - can't miss.

Until Thy Wrath by Past  (arc) by Asa Larsson -

Swedish mystery with echoes of the "The Lovely Bones" as a murder victim interacts with the police trying to solve her case and that of her missing boyfriend.

Lovejoy!!

Those of you who have known me a long time will remember my 'summer of Lovejoy'  When I read every Jonathan Gash  novel I could lay my hands on - even that one where he ends up Japan.  For those who don't know what I'm on about, Lovejoy is an antiques dealer and a 'divvie' which means that he can tell real from fake (his gift or his curse depending on how it gets used)  He's a scruffy womanizer and though he tries to do the right thing; Lovejoy is not a pacifist. In fact he's a lover and a fighter.  Head and shoulders above the rest of the Gash books was The Judas Pair but my copy got put on the wrong pile and donated by my mum to the local charity shop.

I was chatting to George Easter; editor of Deadly Pleasures magazine, which you may have seen in our mystery section, before Chris Ewan's event and I mentioned that Charlie Howard reminds me a little bit of Lovejoy and that after Sleepers of Erin, Judas Pair was my favourite.  Yesterday, I found not one - but three Lovejoy novels, Grail Tree, Gold by Gemini and Judas Pair - sitting in my boxThere could well be an 'autumn of Lovejoy' coming up!

Aug 25, 2011

San Francisco Videos

I've  had some comments that the link to the videos of the San Francisco trip is playing up.  If you want to see all of them go to


http://www.youtube.com/user/englishrosesloverain?feature=mhee#g/u

Enjoy.



Aug 18, 2011

Ice Station Zebra (redux?)

Yesterday I found a copy of Ice Station Zebra by Alistair Maclean in my box.  This really confused me because it was oringally released in 1963. I read it when I was 10 'ish along with Puppet on a Chain and The Guns of Navarone, classic Maclean.(Be thankful that I could reach my Dad's reading material before my Mum's Barbara Cartland collection or this would be a whole different kind of blog!)  My colleague said that ISZ had never been published in the US and I find that hard to believe - as the movie was a world wide hit.  So rather than talk politics in the shop today - lets talk Ice Station Zebra.  I'm also trying to get hold of a thriller by Laurence O'Bryan called Istanbul Puzzle which I may have to order from England so that I can decide whether or not to try and get some in to handsell when the book is released in the US sometime in 2012.  O'Bryan got his publishing deal through Authonomy - I'd left the site by the time he came through - but as I've said before there are some real gems hidden on that site.

Have to finish Phantom of the Opera before bookclub on Sunday.

Also I have a question that's publishing related, I went looking for a book that I really enjoyed on Authonomy last year with a view to ordering a couple of copies for the store to handsell (not the Istanbul Puzzle -that is a real book) and its only available as an e-book and not available through google books - if you know what I mean.  This is doubly frustrating because a) I can't get it in and b) if I talk it up people won't be able to buy it from us.  So my question is this - would you rather see a book you've written as a physical thing in your hand or would you just e-publish.  My opinion goes directly against hubby's who thinks that e-pub is the way to go.  I think if you don't have an actual book to promote its the equivalent of straight-to-video.

So yesterday's topics were The Khan Academy and out of touch politicians.  Today's are ISZ and paper or cloud publishing.  I really am at the store all week.  




Aug 16, 2011

Good Thief's Guide to Venice


Saturday evening, met Chris and his wife Jo and gave them a tour of the store.  The event was out on the patio and not only was every chair filled but we had to add a bunch.  Apparently Utah time is similar to that on the Isle of Man (although the weather is not!) but we started at 7pm on- the-dot. 

Chris entertained the crowd with stories about his research for the books, how the series came about and how he came to be published in the first place.  The lock picking demo that he normally does couldn’t take place because, well lock-picking tools and the TSA… you get the picture.  There were a bunch of questions, even my hubbie asked a question, and no I hadn’t pre-primed him.  There were suggestions for Charlie’s next port of call ranging from Hong Kong to Prison.  Everyone  - Chris included - decided that research for that one might be a bit dodgy.   

We always try and ask our visiting authors to recommended their favourite authors and Chris boosted Megan Abbott’s sales, we had no copies of The End of Everything by the end of the evening and a bunch of orders for her other books as well.  Everyone got their books signed and everybody came away happy.  We hope to see Chris and Jo at the store again soon, either for The Good Thief’s Guide to Berlin or the stand-alone (The) Safe House.

Of course TKE’s events are run by a team and they don’t get enough recognition for making everything run smoothly so big thanks to Helen, Nathan and Jennifer.

Oh and I think Wendy may be planning a field trip to the Isle of Man!


Aug 8, 2011

TKE's got talent

I have known Dawn Houghton for a ton of time and the girl is multi talented let me tell you.  She's a bookseller, a mum, a realtor, a writer and she's just been short-listed for the Flannery O'Connor Short Story Prize.

See multi-talented.  Congratulations Dawn!

San Fran Saturday

Saturday afternoon - we regrouped and headed for West Portal Books for our book group discussion of Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black.  West Portal books is a lot like TKE, lovely, knowledgeable staff, good layout, well-stocked mystery section (back left-hand corner) and in supporting a fellow indie I came away with a new Laurie King book, the follow-up to Dan Airely's Predictably Irrational, a small book of French stories and a copy of Wired (my on-plane reading)

As more and more of the San Francisco book group arrived, Wendy introduced us to them, as I've said before Wendy knows everybody, I met Cara Black, who asked how my book was coming along and so I gave her and David the doctor/cartoonist my elevator pitch - and started talking with my hands again.  There was Sherri who has karma when it comes to finding parking spaces, Marsha and Dick, I had a long chat with Marsha afterwards. She and Wendy and Eleanor, who guided us around the mission district yesterday all taught in the Lick-Wilmerding English department. And many more all arrived chatting and laughing, it was like the best kind of cocktail party. Then we all crammed into the back room for our discussion and chat with Cara, which was fascinating, informative and funny.  I would've filmed the whole thing but as soon as the discussion began it would've seemed rude to just film and never truly participate.  Cara signed a load of her books and then we all headed to the Oppenheim's house for dinner where Wendy gave a lovely speech and gave the San Francisco group a copy of Betsy's book.

Thanks to the San Francisco group for making us feel so welcome, to Cara for meeting with us, to West Portal Books for hosting us and to Wendy who set the whole trip up.

photo link

Rather than post everything separately here is the link to all the still photos I took on on our trip. 

Aug 5, 2011

SF day one

Our first day in SF I won't bore you with the adventure of how we got here.Breakfast at Cafe de la Presse off to the mission district for the morning and then down through China town to City Lights bookstore - here's Linda under the sign.


Love the quotes they had on the ground.



Aug 1, 2011

Good Thief's Guide To Venice, Chris Ewan

Since his luck turned bad in Vegas a year ago, Charlie Howard has been living an honest writer’s life in Venice.  He reckons his latest Faulks manuscript will crack those bestseller lists wide open and he can’t wait for his agent Victoria’s verdict.

But first he has to get his priceless signed first edition of The Maltese Falcon back from a fetching but rather loopy cat burglar.  The price? One simple job and Charlie will get the ‘Falcon’ back. Refuse and the book will be destroyed.

Charlie can’t risk losing his good luck charm but when the ‘simple job’ blasts him head-first into the canal he’s pretty sure the ‘Falcon’ is gone for good.  Charlie’s landed himself and Victoria in the middle of an assassination plot, but Victoria has a plan – and enough non-lethal weaponary to make Q branch green with envy. Her idea is outrageous and it might work but either way once it’s over Charlie’s leaving Venice for good.

Don't forget Chris will be reading at TKE 7pm Saturday August 13th.

Machine Man, Max Barry


When we first meet him, brilliant scientist Charlie Neumann has a brain more like a computer, zero social skills and he’s about to lose a leg.  He works for the Better Future corporation and the company does everything it can for him, even paying for a top-of-the-line replacement limb. As Charlie improves under the care of Lola Shanks he doesn’t concern himself with how he came to have the accident.  He just wants to get back to work and redesign his pathetic prosthetic. 

Soon Charlie’s leg can think for itself and he’s thinking of upgrading the rest of him and Better Future are keen to have him do just that.  Along the way Charlie creates his own little monsters – a team of enhanced lab assistants who have no idea when to stop pushing the boundaries of what it means to be human.  Machine Man is a hybrid of thriller, snarky nerd humour, a love story and some serious corporate greed.

Spycatcher, Matthew Dunn


Spycatcher hurls you into the world of the modern day spook.  Will Cochrane, a ruthless, dedicated, fallible MI6 agent. Part heat seeking missile, part stealth bomber he obeys his masters only when he sees fit.  Will and a US seal team must hunt down and capture an Iranian terrorist before he orchestrates the most appalling atrocity on western soil since 9/11. 

Will has to play a deadly game to lure the terrorist from his hideout but in a world where today’s friend can be tomorrow’s enemy and sudden death is a way of life, who can he trust and who is really conducting the operation.  Unarmed, outgunned and rocked to his very core can Will save thousands of innocents including the life of the woman he loves?

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler Olsen


If you're missing your Steig Larsson fix look no further.

For a broken detective, the last thing Carl Morck expected was a promotion but his assignment to Department Q – cases so cold he could get freezer burn just by paging through them – has an unexpected pay-off.  Carl and his assistant Assad make an unlikely team as they re-investigate the case of a missing-presumed-dead politician – but she’s not dead – not yet.

Plugged, Eoin Colfer


Danny McEvoy, former soldier and formerly bald is having trouble making it in New York City in this comedy noir. He just lost his girlfriend, his crooked Doctor pal is missing, he's about to lose his job as a bouncer and he's got cops, the Irish mob and an angry rotweiler all vying for pieces of him.  Can he plug them before they plug him?  

Cracking new books for August

August is definitely my favourite month for new releases so enjoy.