Editorial Content for Murder Under Her Skin: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Hart and Halloway’s Traveling Circus and Sideshow is making its way around the circuit of small towns that still book the show. At one stop, the Amazing Tattooed Woman, Ruby Donner, is found dead with a knife in her back. The circus knife-thrower, Valentin Kalishenko, is the obvious suspect and now sits in the local jail. Read More
Teaser
Someone has put a blade in the back of the Amazing Tattooed Woman, and Willowjean “Will” Parker’s former knife-throwing mentor has been stitched up for the crime. To uncover the truth, Will and her boss, world-famous detective Lillian Pentecost, travel to the circus, where they find a snake pit of old grudges, small-town crime and secrets worth killing for. Will called Hart & Halloway’s Traveling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus’s tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse, the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go. To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia.
Promo
Someone has put a blade in the back of the Amazing Tattooed Woman, and Willowjean “Will” Parker’s former knife-throwing mentor has been stitched up for the crime. To uncover the truth, Will and her boss, world-famous detective Lillian Pentecost, travel to the circus, where they find a snake pit of old grudges, small-town crime and secrets worth killing for. Will called Hart & Halloway’s Traveling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus’s tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse, the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go. To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia.
About the Book
Rex Stout meets Agatha Christie with a fresh twist in the new Pentecost and Parker mystery, a delightfully hardboiled high-wire act starring two daring women sleuths dead set on justice as they set out to solve a murder at a traveling circus.
Someone has put a blade in the back of the Amazing Tattooed Woman, and Willowjean “Will” Parker’s former knife-throwing mentor has been stitched up for the crime. To uncover the truth, Will and her boss, world-famous detective Lillian Pentecost, travel to the circus, where they find a snake pit of old grudges, small-town crime and secrets worth killing for.
Will called Hart & Halloway’s Traveling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus’s tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse, the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go.
To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia, where the locals like their cocktails mild, the past buried and big-city detectives not at all. The two swiftly find themselves lost in a funhouse of lies as Will begins to realize that her former circus compatriots aren’t playing it straight and her murdered friend might have been hiding a lot of secrets beneath all that ink.
Audiobook available, read by Kirsten Potter
Editorial Content for New York, My Village
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Uwem Akpan’s brand of humor and satire draws readers in from the very beginning of his debut novel, NEW YORK, MY VILLAGE, as his protagonist is attempting to get a visa. Ekong Udousoro has been awarded a prestigious Toni Morrison Fellowship to spend four months at a small publishing house, Andrew & Thompson, in New York City, working on his own anthology of writings about the Biafran War and joining their editorial team. Read More
Teaser
From a suspiciously cheap Hell’s Kitchen walk-up, Nigerian editor and winner of a Toni Morrison Publishing Fellowship Ekong Udousoro is about to learn the ins and outs of the publishing industry from its incandescent epicenter. While his sophisticated colleagues meet him with kindness and hospitality, he is soon exposed to a colder, ruthlessly commercial underbelly, not the least of which is a bedrock of white cultural superiority and racist assumptions about Africa, its peoples and, worst of all, its food. Reckoning with the recent history of the devastating and brutal Biafran War, in which his people were a minority of a minority caught up in the mutual slaughter of majority tribes, Ekong’s life in New York becomes a saga of unanticipated strife.
Promo
From a suspiciously cheap Hell’s Kitchen walk-up, Nigerian editor and winner of a Toni Morrison Publishing Fellowship Ekong Udousoro is about to learn the ins and outs of the publishing industry from its incandescent epicenter. While his sophisticated colleagues meet him with kindness and hospitality, he is soon exposed to a colder, ruthlessly commercial underbelly, not the least of which is a bedrock of white cultural superiority and racist assumptions about Africa, its peoples and, worst of all, its food. Reckoning with the recent history of the devastating and brutal Biafran War, in which his people were a minority of a minority caught up in the mutual slaughter of majority tribes, Ekong’s life in New York becomes a saga of unanticipated strife.
About the Book
Exuberant storytelling full of wry comedy, dark history and devastating satire --- by the celebrated and original author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM.
From a suspiciously cheap Hell’s Kitchen walk-up, Nigerian editor and winner of a Toni Morrison Publishing Fellowship Ekong Udousoro is about to begin the opportunity of a lifetime: to learn the ins and outs of the publishing industry from its incandescent epicenter. While his sophisticated colleagues meet him with kindness and hospitality, he is soon exposed to a colder, ruthlessly commercial underbelly --- callous agents, greedy landlords, boorish and hostile neighbors, and, beneath a superficial cosmopolitanism, a bedrock of white cultural superiority and racist assumptions about Africa, its peoples and, worst of all, its food.
Reckoning, at the same time, with the recent history of the devastating and brutal Biafran War, in which his people were a minority of a minority caught up in the mutual slaughter of majority tribes, Ekong’s life in New York becomes a saga of unanticipated strife. The great apartment deal wrangled by his editor turns out to be an illegal sublet crawling with bedbugs. The lights of Times Square slide off the hardened veneer of New Yorkers plowing past the tourists. A collective antagonism toward the “other” consumes Ekong’s daily life. Yet in overcoming misunderstandings with his neighbors, Chinese and Latino and African American, and in bonding with his true allies at work and advocating for healing back home, Ekong proves that there is still hope in sharing our stories.
Akpan’s prose melds humor, tenderness and pain to explore the myriad ways that tribalisms define life everywhere, from the villages of Nigeria to the villages within New York City. NEW YORK, MY VILLAGE is a triumph of storytelling and a testament to the life-sustaining power of community across borders and across boroughs.
Audiobook available, read by Elnathan John
Editorial Content for We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons for Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, its stresses compounded (at least in the United States) by relentless political turmoil, there’s been no shortage of prescriptions for preserving one’s psychological well-being. Along with time-honored recommendations like exercise, good nutrition and adequate sleep, mental health professionals frequently have suggested beginning a meditation practice as a means of coping with COVID-induced stress. Read More
Teaser
We all go through times when it feels like the ground is being pulled out from under us. What we relied on as steady and solid may change or even appear to vanish. In this era of global disruption, threats to our individual, social and planetary safety abound, and at times life can feel overwhelming. Not only are loss and separation painful, but even positive changes can cause great stress. In WE WERE MADE FOR THESE TIMES, the extraordinary mindfulness teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo imparts accessible advice on navigating difficult times of transition, drawing on Buddhist teachings on impermanence to help you establish equanimity and resilience.
Promo
We all go through times when it feels like the ground is being pulled out from under us. What we relied on as steady and solid may change or even appear to vanish. In this era of global disruption, threats to our individual, social and planetary safety abound, and at times life can feel overwhelming. Not only are loss and separation painful, but even positive changes can cause great stress. In WE WERE MADE FOR THESE TIMES, the extraordinary mindfulness teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo imparts accessible advice on navigating difficult times of transition, drawing on Buddhist teachings on impermanence to help you establish equanimity and resilience.
About the Book
In 10 concise chapters, you'll learn powerful ways to meet life's challenges with wisdom, resilience and ease.
We all go through times when it feels like the ground is being pulled out from under us. What we relied on as steady and solid may change or even appear to vanish. In this era of global disruption, threats to our individual, social and planetary safety abound, and at times life can feel overwhelming. Not only are loss and separation painful, but even positive changes can cause great stress.
Yet life is full of change: birth, death, marriage, divorce; a new relationship; losing or starting a job; beginning a new phase in life or ending one. Change is stressful, even when it is much desired or anticipated --- the unknown can feel scary and threatening. In WE WERE MADE FOR THESE TIMES, the extraordinary mindfulness teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo imparts accessible advice on navigating difficult times of transition, drawing on Buddhist teachings on impermanence to help you establish equanimity and resilience.
Each chapter in WE WERE MADE FOR THESE TIMES holds an essential teaching and meditation, unfolding a step-by-step process to nurture deeper freedom and stability in daily life. Time-honored teachings will help you develop ease, presence and self-compassion, supporting you to release the fear and doubt that hold you back.
Editorial Content for Valentine's Way: My Adventurous Life and Times
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
When Bobby Valentine passes away (which should not be for a long time, God willing), don’t be surprised if the obituaries feature a photo of him wearing sunglasses, a t-shirt and a painted-on mustache. This is the “disguise” that he assumed after being ejected from a Mets game so he could continue to run the team. According to the rules, this was a no-no for which he was fined and suspended; according to Valentine, it was just a joke. Read More
Teaser
From his first year in Rookie ball, when Tommy Lasorda ordered him to send a letter to the Dodgers’ starting shortstop informing him that he should retire early to make way for the young phenom, to appearing in disguise in the Mets’ dugout following an ejection, Bobby Valentine was a lightning rod for mischievous controversy, grabbing headlines wherever he went. Mavericks are seldom welcomed to upset the status quo, and Major League Baseball was no exception. In astonishing detail, Bobby Valentine reflects on the many remarkable moments that comprised his playing and managerial careers.
Promo
From his first year in Rookie ball, when Tommy Lasorda ordered him to send a letter to the Dodgers’ starting shortstop informing him that he should retire early to make way for the young phenom, to appearing in disguise in the Mets’ dugout following an ejection, Bobby Valentine was a lightning rod for mischievous controversy, grabbing headlines wherever he went. Mavericks are seldom welcomed to upset the status quo, and Major League Baseball was no exception. In astonishing detail, Bobby Valentine reflects on the many remarkable moments that comprised his playing and managerial careers.
About the Book
A frank and often hilarious account of the baseball life from one of the game’s great iconoclasts.
From his first year in Rookie ball, when Tommy Lasorda ordered him to send a letter to the Dodgers’ starting shortstop informing him that he should retire early to make way for the young phenom, to appearing in disguise in the Mets’ dugout following an ejection, Bobby Valentine was a lightning rod for mischievous controversy, grabbing headlines wherever he went. Mavericks are seldom welcomed to upset the status quo, and Major League Baseball was no exception.
In astonishing detail, Bobby Valentine reflects on the many remarkable moments that comprised his playing and managerial careers. From his wild times as a player in the early '70s, to his transition to coaching with the Mets after a catastrophic injury derailed his playing days; from managing the Texas Rangers in 1985, where he employed sabermetrics and witnessed the beginning of the steroid era, to his iconic stretch at Shea Stadium, when he led the Mets to the 2000 World Series while battling a dysfunctional front office and ownership; from his beloved time in Japan managing the Chiba Lotte Marines, who won the Japan Series, to the absolute disaster of a season in Boston, where he was greeted by a toxic clubhouse and fractured organization.
Readers will be intrigued by his off-the-field exploits as well, from his early years as an international ballroom dancing champion to his post-playing days where he may have invented the wrap sandwich and the modern sports bar. Valentine has consistently overcome adversity and reinvented himself, regardless of the playing field. Along the way, he shares stories and insights on memorable moments and iconic personalities, including Nolan Ryan, Ichiro Suzuki, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver, Joe Torre, George Steinbrenner, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz.
VALENTINE'S WAY is a riveting look back on 40 years of baseball, written with a novelist’s mind and a journalist’s memory, and in collaboration with legendary baseball author Peter Golenbock. A once-in-a-generation book that leaves no great story untold, this is an invaluable document for anyone wondering what it’s really like to play and work in the rarified world of Major League Baseball.
Editorial Content for At First Light
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Barbara Nickless is the #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Sydney Rose Parnell crime novels.
AT FIRST LIGHT kicks off a new series for Nickless, who introduces readers to Dr. Evan Wilding, a brilliant forensic semiotician. Evan is an expert at studying signs --- systems of communication --- whether they be road signs, hand gestures or hieroglyphics. In this case, they are Viking Age runes, ancient symbols used by the Vikings to tell stories or give meaning to their existence. Read More
Teaser
On the muddy banks of the Calumet River, a body has been found posed next to a series of mysterious glyphs and bearing wounds from a ritualistic slaying. Chicago detective Addie Bisset knows only one man who can decipher the message left by the killer: her friend, Dr. Evan Wilding. A brilliant forensic semiotician, Evan decodes the etchings as Viking Age runes. They suggest either human sacrifice or righteous punishment. But to what god? And for what sins? Only one thing is clear from the disturbing runic riddles: there are more victims to come. As Evan races to determine the identity of the Viking Poet, he and Addie uncover the killer’s most terrifying secret yet: the motive.
Promo
On the muddy banks of the Calumet River, a body has been found posed next to a series of mysterious glyphs and bearing wounds from a ritualistic slaying. Chicago detective Addie Bisset knows only one man who can decipher the message left by the killer: her friend, Dr. Evan Wilding. A brilliant forensic semiotician, Evan decodes the etchings as Viking Age runes. They suggest either human sacrifice or righteous punishment. But to what god? And for what sins? Only one thing is clear from the disturbing runic riddles: there are more victims to come. As Evan races to determine the identity of the Viking Poet, he and Addie uncover the killer’s most terrifying secret yet: the motive.
About the Book
Ritual murder. Archaic clues. A visionary killer. In this heart-stopping novel by the Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of the Sydney Rose Parnell series, words can kill.
On the muddy banks of the Calumet River, a body has been found posed next to a series of mysterious glyphs and bearing wounds from a ritualistic slaying. Chicago detective Addie Bisset knows only one man who can decipher the message left by the killer: her friend Dr. Evan Wilding. A brilliant forensic semiotician, Evan decodes the etchings as Viking Age runes. They suggest either human sacrifice or righteous punishment. But to what god? And for what sins?
Only one thing is clear from the disturbing runic riddles: there are more victims to come.
As Evan races to determine the identity of the Viking Poet, he and Addie uncover the killer’s most terrifying secret yet: the motive. This startling discovery puts Evan’s life in mortal danger, and verse by ancient verse, time is running out.
Audiobook available, read by Tim Campbell
Editorial Content for Sherlock Holmes and The Three Winter Terrors
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
For Sherlockians like myself, the gift of a “new” Sherlock Holmes mystery for the holiday season is just what we hoped Father Christmas would bring us this year. Holmes may be the most popular fictional character of all time, especially if you are judging it based on the number of stories depicting him. Read More
Teaser
1889. The First Terror. At a boys’ prep school in the Kent marshes, a pupil is found drowned in a pond. Could this be the fulfillment of a witch’s curse from over 200 years earlier? 1890. The Second Terror. A wealthy man dies of a heart attack at his London townhouse. Was he really frightened to death by ghosts? 1894. The Third Terror. A body is discovered in the dark woods near a Surrey country manor, hideously ravaged. Is the culprit a cannibal, as the evidence suggests? These three chilling and strangely linked crimes test Sherlock Holmes’ deductive powers, and his skepticism about the supernatural, to the limit.
Promo
1889. The First Terror. At a boys’ prep school in the Kent marshes, a pupil is found drowned in a pond. Could this be the fulfillment of a witch’s curse from over 200 years earlier? 1890. The Second Terror. A wealthy man dies of a heart attack at his London townhouse. Was he really frightened to death by ghosts? 1894. The Third Terror. A body is discovered in the dark woods near a Surrey country manor, hideously ravaged. Is the culprit a cannibal, as the evidence suggests? These three chilling and strangely linked crimes test Sherlock Holmes’ deductive powers, and his skepticism about the supernatural, to the limit.
About the Book
From the author of SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE CHRISTMAS DEMON comes another beautifully presented seasonal mystery.
1889. The First Terror.
At a boys’ prep school in the Kent marshes, a pupil is found drowned in a pond. Could this be the fulfillment of a witch’s curse from over 200 years earlier?
1890. The Second Terror.
A wealthy man dies of a heart attack at his London townhouse. Was he really frightened to death by ghosts?
1894. The Third Terror.
A body is discovered in the dark woods near a Surrey country manor, hideously ravaged. Is the culprit a cannibal, as the evidence suggests?
These three chilling and strangely linked crimes test Sherlock Holmes’ deductive powers, and his skepticism about the supernatural, to the limit.
Audiobook available, read by Dennis Kleinman
Editorial Content for The Hush
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In THE HUSH, British author Sara Foster not only stares COVID-19 directly in the face, she has set the action of her somewhat dystopian novel a few years after the pandemic. A series of maladies have followed that essentially have created a “new normal” for the denizens of planet Earth, who have concluded that constant change is the reality with which they are dealing. Read More
Teaser
Lainey’s friend, Ellis, is missing. And she’s not the only one. In the six months since the first case of a terrifying new epidemic --- when a healthy baby wouldn’t take a breath at birth --- the country has been thrown into turmoil. The government has passed sweeping new laws to monitor all citizens. And several young pregnant women have vanished without a trace. As a midwife, Lainey’s mum, Emma, is determined to be there for those who need her. But when 17-year-old Lainey finds herself in trouble, this dangerous new world becomes very real. The one person who might help is Emma’s estranged mother, but reaching out to her will put them all in jeopardy.
Promo
Lainey’s friend, Ellis, is missing. And she’s not the only one. In the six months since the first case of a terrifying new epidemic --- when a healthy baby wouldn’t take a breath at birth --- the country has been thrown into turmoil. The government has passed sweeping new laws to monitor all citizens. And several young pregnant women have vanished without a trace. As a midwife, Lainey’s mum, Emma, is determined to be there for those who need her. But when 17-year-old Lainey finds herself in trouble, this dangerous new world becomes very real. The one person who might help is Emma’s estranged mother, but reaching out to her will put them all in jeopardy.
About the Book
Everything can change in a heartbeat...
The pulse-pounding new thriller from the bestselling author of YOU DON'T KNOW ME.
Lainey’s friend, Ellis, is missing. And she’s not the only one.
In the six months since the first case of a terrifying new epidemic --- when a healthy baby wouldn’t take a breath at birth --- the country has been thrown into turmoil. The government has passed sweeping new laws to monitor all citizens. And several young pregnant women have vanished without a trace.
As a midwife, Lainey’s mum, Emma, is determined to be there for those who need her. But when 17-year-old Lainey finds herself in trouble, this dangerous new world becomes very real. The one person who might help is Emma’s estranged mother, but reaching out to her will put them all in jeopardy.
THE HUSH is a new breed of near-future thriller, an unflinching look at a society close to tipping point and a story for our times, highlighting the power of female friendship through a dynamic group of women determined to triumph against the odds.
Audiobook available, read by Tamala Shelton and Cathi Ogden
Editorial Content for Pay or Play: A Charlie Waldo Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Before 2019’s BELOW THE LINE, when Charlie Waldo was an LAPD Level III detective, “his own zealous police work had led to the death of an innocent man.” Waldo atones by becoming an uber-minimalist, owning no more than One Hundred Things. Although a brilliant detective, common sense would make that 101 Things. Reluctantly, he teams up with Lorena Nascimento’s PI firm. Read More
Teaser
Paying a harsh self-imposed penance for a terrible misstep on a case, former LAPD superstar detective Charlie Waldo lives a life of punishing minimalism deep within the woods. However, his PI girlfriend, Lorena, keeps drawing him back to civilization. When old adversary Don Q strongarms Waldo into investigating the seemingly mundane death of a vagrant, Lorena agrees he can work under her PI license on one condition: that he help with a high-maintenance celebrity client, wildly popular courtroom TV star Judge Ida Mudge, whose new mega-deal makes her a perfect target for blackmail. Reopening the coldest of cases, a decades-old fraternity death, Waldo begins to wonder if the judge is, in fact, a murderer --- and if he’ll stay alive long enough to find out.
Promo
Paying a harsh self-imposed penance for a terrible misstep on a case, former LAPD superstar detective Charlie Waldo lives a life of punishing minimalism deep within the woods. However, his PI girlfriend, Lorena, keeps drawing him back to civilization. When old adversary Don Q strongarms Waldo into investigating the seemingly mundane death of a vagrant, Lorena agrees he can work under her PI license on one condition: that he help with a high-maintenance celebrity client, wildly popular courtroom TV star Judge Ida Mudge, whose new mega-deal makes her a perfect target for blackmail. Reopening the coldest of cases, a decades-old fraternity death, Waldo begins to wonder if the judge is, in fact, a murderer --- and if he’ll stay alive long enough to find out.
About the Book
Blackmail, sexual harassment, murder...and a missing dog: eccentric, eco-obsessed LA private eye Charlie Waldo is on the case in this quirky, fast-paced mystery.
Paying a harsh self-imposed penance for a terrible misstep on a case, former LAPD superstar detective Charlie Waldo lives a life of punishing minimalism deep within the woods, making a near religion of his commitment to owning no more than One Hundred Things.
At least, he’s trying to. His PI girlfriend, Lorena, keeps drawing him back to civilization --- even though every time he compromises on his principles, something goes wrong.
And unfortunately for Waldo, all roads lead straight back to LA. When old adversary Don Q strongarms him into investigating the seemingly mundane death of a vagrant, Lorena agrees he can work under her PI license on one condition: that he help with a high-maintenance celebrity client, wildly popular courtroom TV star Judge Ida Mudge, whose new mega-deal makes her a perfect target for blackmail.
Reopening the coldest of cases, a decades-old fraternity death, Waldo begins to wonder if the judge is, in fact, a murderer --- and if he’ll stay alive long enough to find out.
PAY OR PLAY is the third in the Charlie Waldo series, following LAST LOOKS and BELOW THE LINE. LAST LOOKS was turned into a major motion picture, starring Charlie Hunnam as the offbeat private investigator.
December 10, 2021
I feel like December is flying by, and I am not keeping up! As I sit in our family room writing this newsletter, I see holiday decorations that I unpacked from their bins, but have yet to be placed around the house. Amaryllis plants that I am giving as gifts are lined up in the kitchen, waiting to be boxed up. I have some presents ordered, but confess that I have the “to me/from me” category more covered than any other. I did find the plastic container with the candles that go in the windows --- the one that I put in a place that I would not forget and then promptly forgot where that was. I cannot wait to put these in the windows and turn on the timers. And yes, that last line was riddled with sarcasm. I never get the timers right, so this is a job that I delegate to the menfolk here.