Poisoned Pen Press

02/09/2024

Book Review The Specimen by Jaima FixsenHistorical Fiction | Mystery ★★★★★ Amongst Dr. Burnett’s collection of oddities and medical specimens sits a heart in a jar. To anyone else, this juven…

27/08/2024

Happy Publication Day to THE HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE! 🎉

If you haven't yet picked up a mystery from genre master Martin Edwards, bestselling and award-winning author Louise Penny has a message for you: “His books are wonderful, filled with compelling characters, smart plots, and great writing. I am a huge fan!”

Grab your copy today:
Amazon: https://srcbks.com/4bhSKqX
Bookshop: https://srcbks.com/4eBC9RQ
Barnes & Noble: https://srcbks.com/4aTpua6

Surreal artist Damaris Gethin has invited a select group to the opening of her exhibit ‘Artist in Crime,’ held in the eerie subterranean Hades Gallery.

Within ten minutes of the exhibit's opening, the artist slips her neck into the collar of a guillotine onstage, and with the push of a button beheads herself in front of her horrified audience.

Rachel Savernake and Jacob Flint are tasked with solving yet another impossible murder in Martin Edwards THE HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE on sale today!

21/08/2024

THE SPECIMEN by Jaima Fixsen is the perfect addition to your Fall and spooky season reading lists!

Visit the link in our bio to preorder THE SPECIMEN to receive an exclusive bookmark and logic puzzle! 🫀🩸

It’s 1826 and Dr. Burnett is renowned for his extensive collection of Specimen. Always sure to draw a large crowd, he can show off his rare cabinet of curiosities.

With little hope and no answers regarding her son’s rare heart composition, Isobel Tait turns to Dr. Burnett for answers. But then her son goes missing and a tiny human heart appears as a new addition to Dr. Burnett’s collection.

Preorder your copy of THE SPECIMEN here:
Amazon: https://srcbks.com/3uITVAv
Bookshop: https://srcbks.com/49HMR64
Barnes & Noble: https://srcbks.com/3uw7kvP

Contest ends 10/14 at 12am CST
18+ US only. Terms and Conditions apply: https://srcbks.com/4dnU0dE

20/08/2024

"There's enough authentic Texas grit to scratch that Western genre itch, and enough contemporary tech and investigative action to keep the pages turning for the contemporary thriller aficionado.

Wortham expertly operates along the borderline between the neo-Western and the modern-day crime thriller without a visible seam. Highly recommended." ― Baron Birtcher, LA Times bestselling author of Reckoning

The Broken Truth by hits shelves everywhere today!

Dallas folks, come celebrate the book launch this evening at flagship location in Dallas!

17/08/2024

15/08/2024

You can try, but Inspector Cockrill is a tough one to beat in SUDDENT AT HIS RESIDENCE that Kirkus Reviews calls "perhaps the most underrated country-house mystery of them all."

The boisterous grandchildren of Sir Richard March have descended upon Swanswater Manor for a family gathering and the finalizing of the patriarch’s will. Disgruntled by the behavior and life choices of his heirs, March seems poised to deny all of them their inheritance and heads out to his lodge to make arrangements – only to be discovered dead the next morning with strychnine in his blood.

Preorder your copy here:
Amazon: https://srcbks.com/suddenlyhisresidenceamz
Barnes & Noble: https://srcbks.com/suddenlyhisresidencebn
Bookshop: https://srcbks.com/46KtclD

13/08/2024

Katrina Monroe digs into the raw reality of sisterhood and what it means to be an eldest daughter in her new supernatural thriller release, THROUGH THE MIDNIGHT DOOR. Check out her guest post on CrimeReads below!

Grab your copy of THROUGH THE MIDNIGHT DOOR:
Amazon: https://srcbks.com/47yPS7j
Barnes & Noble: https://srcbks.com/4b2MIeI
Bookshop: https://srcbks.com/4b23730

Sister: I just finished reading your book. Me: Yeah? What did you think? Sister: …are you okay? A good friend once suggested that writing a book is like an exorcism. Being a horror novelist, I agre…

12/08/2024

CWA Diamond Dagger Award Winning author Martin Edwards, will be in conversation with Barbara Peters at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore to discuss his upcoming release THE HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE!

Richard Osman has deemed Martin Edwards as "a true master of British crime writing" so if you haven't had a chance to dive into a Rachel Savernake mystery, now is the time. THE HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE publishes August 27th.

Tune in to Martin's event with The Poisoned Pen Bookstore here on YouTube or Facebooks. You can view the event link here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTbRuLNmD8EhT4WrGGMVW-w

Preorder THE HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE:
Amazon: https://srcbks.com/4bhSKqX
Barnes & Noble: https://srcbks.com/4aTpua6
Bookshop: https://srcbks.com/4eBC9RQ

10/08/2024

I thoroughly enjoyed talking about The Hungry Bones and New Zealand with Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen. Take a listen at FacebookLive or YouTube @ Poisoned Pen.com

09/08/2024

To protect her family, one mother's lie of omission leads to another in this twisty, suspenseful domestic thriller, perfect for fans of Laura Dave.

07/08/2024

Congratulations, Darcy Coates! THE GHOST CAMERA is a USA Today Bestseller 🎉

Darcy Coates' oldest fans will recognize THE GHOST CAMERA.

The Ghost Camera is the heart of a new set of short stories--
"Coates revives and revises the title novella, her very first ghostly tale, adding another long story and seven shorter shivers...

The most notable of them are 'Untamed Things,' in which the only two survivors of an airline crash lean into each other in the hope of attracting possible rescuers, and 'Cathedral,' which moves directly from a leisurely opening to a whiplash punchline." Kirkus Reviews

GHOST CAMERA by Darcy Coates available everywhere!

Pick up your copy:
B&N https://srcbks.com/3Umdh8s
BAM https://srcbks.com/4dkLb41
Bookshop.org https://srcbks.com/4bx0Jk6
Walmart https://srcbks.com/46qCUcB
AMZ https://srcbks.com/3L8fSxx

06/08/2024

Liam is my favorite. I can't help it.

All families have secrets. But some secrets are deadly.

Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until, one quiet evening, two detectives show up at her front door.

"Mrs. Cass, we were hoping your son could answer a few questions about the girl who disappeared last night..."

A high school girl has vanished from their quiet neighborhood, and the police suspect the worst. Erika's teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive.

Erika has always sensed something… different in her seemingly perfect oldest child. He's charming, smart, and popular, but mothers have the best instincts, and Erika knows there's more to her son than meets the eye. She wants to believe he's innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can't deny the truth―Liam may have done the unthinkable.

THE PERFECT SON ON SHELVES EVERYWHERE TODAY.
Pick up your copy today:
B&N https://srcbks.com/3Q48CW4
AMZ https://srcbks.com/3SC5ylv
BOOKSHOP.org https://srcbks.com/3LWeePW
BAM https://srcbks.com/3LUqb8F

03/08/2024

30/07/2024

The Ghost Camera returns to print today along with 8 new short stories. Pick up a copy at your favorite bookstore today:
B&N https://srcbks.com/3Umdh8s
BAM https://srcbks.com/4dkLb41
Bookshop.org https://srcbks.com/4bx0Jk6
Walmart https://srcbks.com/46qCUcB
AMZ https://srcbks.com/3L8fSxx

In 2014, I published a novella called Ghost Camera.

I was still a very new writer and this was one of my first serious projects. It was a love letter to horror, to ghosts, and to fear--all things I'm obsessively captivated by.

Time passed, and Ghost Camera went out of print. This happens to old books occasionally. I'd thought the story would be largely forgotten; it was only a novella, after all.

I was completely wrong.

There's one major change, though:
Ghost Camera no longer stands alone.
It's now a full collection. Eight additional stories--some short, others novellas--fill out the space between the covers.

I wrote these extra pieces to complement
Ghost Camera. They touch on similar themes, but each takes a different path.

One is a ghost story, because this is me, and ghost stories run in my blood. One preys on my fear of making a simple mistake while foraging. One is very, very short, and so bleakly dark that I nearly deleted it from the collection... but didn't.

And then there is A Box of Tapes. It was partially written on a nineteen hour plane flight. It did very strange things to my brain; it felt like discovering my first love of horror, all over again.

In a lot of ways A Box of Tapes felt like Ghost Camera's twin, separated by a decade. It seemed right to place it at the end so that the collection opens with Ghost Camera and closes with Tapes.

Together, there are nine horror experiences. Something very old. Something very new. Some dark, some hopeful. Every one of them as much a love letter to horror as Ghost Camera was, ten years ago.

Happy reading, dear friends,
-- Darcy

28/07/2024

Need a thrilling new read? Some of our favorite ebooks are just $2.99 until July 30th:

DEAD GIRL IN 2A by Carter Wilson, https://books2read.com/u/3RlOyj
Jack Buchanan knows the woman sitting next to him on his business flight to Denver―he just can't figure out how he knows her. Clara Stowe isn't in Jake's line of work and didn't go to college with him. They have nearly nothing in common apart from a deep and shared certainty that they've met before. As their airplane conversation deepens, both struggle to figure out what circumstances could have possibly brought them together. Then, in a revelation that sends Jake reeling, Clara admits she's traveling to the Colorado mountains to kill herself, and she disappears into the crowded airport immediately after landing.

THE GUEST HOUSE by Robin Morgan-Bentley
https://books2read.com/u/3JlO2A
Jamie and Victoria are off for a last quick vacation before the arrival of their first baby. The remote country guesthouse Victoria chose seems like the perfect retreat—miles away from the distractions of work and their regular life. And the older couple that run the establishment, Barry and Fiona, are more than accommodating.

But when Jamie and Victoria awake on their first morning, they find the house deserted. Barry and Fiona are nowhere to be seen. All the doors are locked. And their cell phones and car keys have disappeared.

THE DROWNING by JP Smith
https://books2read.com/u/bxPpAD
Joey Proctor can't swim, but that doesn't stop camp counselor Alex Mason from leaving him out on a raft in the middle of the lake in a fit of rage. Alex only meant to scare the kid, teach him a lesson. He didn't mean to forget about him. But now Joey is gone...

25/07/2024

🩸COVER REVEAL🩸 We are so thrilled to be revealing the cover of BLOOD ON HER TONGUE by Johanna van Veen with Reactor Magazine.

We have TWO giveaways running for your chance to get an early copy of BLOOD ON HER TONGUE. Head over to Goodreads for a chance to win 1 of 15 ARCs, and for you NetGalley readers, 100 digital copies are up for grabs! Head over to grab your copy now🩸
Goodreads giveaway: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/393208-blood-on-her-tongue
NetGalley: https://www.netgalley.com/publisher/title/430570

Sarah is unwell—she refuses to eat, is obsessed with a bog body found at her husband’s estate, and displays alarming signs of madness. Lucy, her beloved twin sister, is the only one who can care for her. But something old, long dead, and hell-bent on staying has escaped the bog body imprisoning it, and has taken up residence inside of Sarah. As Lucy tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her sister’s condition, Sarah dies. And then comes back. Hungry.

Lucy is forced to decide what’s worse: having a parasitic entity sharing her sister’s form, or losing her entirely.

BLOOD ON HER TONGUE publishes March 25, 2025!
Preorder your copy here:
Amazon: https://srcbks.com/463lvH2
Barnes & Noble: https://srcbks.com/3xWhYgX
Bookshop: https://srcbks.com/3S5UfBU

An intoxicating tale of obsession, madness, identity, and feminist fury.

23/07/2024

A house-wreck lies in wait as Cherie Priest twists the familiar—long ago boring-slash-thrilling summers with grandma—into place that is wild, unpredictable, and dangerous. Whispering voices, shuttering objects, shadowy figures—something has always been amiss in Charlotte Culpepper’s house. She’s been holding back an incoming tide. Now she’s dead, and her grandson Simon is missing. Determined to get answers, Simon’s childhood friends Melissa and Leo make the trek back to the isolated island off the Washington coast to find him.

Perfect for readers ready to slip through a secret portal a la The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher, THE DROWNING HOUSE takes a stab at maintaining friendship into adulthood with a tale of horror and suspense, to glimpse the upside down that awaits two “friends” if they can’t work together.

The Drowning House by Cherie Priest publishes today.

Pick up your copy at a fine bookstore near you!
Third Place Books https://srcbks.com/46gOw24
Elliott Bay Book Company https://srcbks.com/3Yb6ukc
B&N https://srcbks.com/4b14HlR
Bookshop.org https://srcbks.com/4b0cSyH
BAM https://srcbks.com/47MyCeY
AMZ https://srcbks.com/3tXsdzy

20/07/2024

"The image of a creepy, old, waterlogged home washing up on a Marrowstone beach was too sinister to ignore."

Read Cherie Priest's fascinating interview with The Seattle Times about her new gothic thriller THE DROWNING HOUSE. https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/seattle-authors-new-book-features-a-haunted-house-on-salish-sea-island/

Then run out and grab your copy! THE DROWNING HOUSE hits shelves everywhere Tuesday, July 23rd!
Third Place Books https://srcbks.com/46gOw24
Elliott Bay Book Company https://srcbks.com/3Yb6ukc
B&N https://srcbks.com/4b14HlR
Bookshop.org https://srcbks.com/4b0cSyH
BAM https://srcbks.com/47MyCeY
AMZ https://srcbks.com/3tXsdzy

Cherie Priest’s new haunted-house novel, “The Drowning House,” is set on Marrowstone Island, a real place in Jefferson County.

13/07/2024

Finding home means finally putting the past to rest in A LONG TIME GONE, a crime fiction perfect for readers of S.A. Cosby and William Kent Krueger—it’s a thrilling and devastating mystery brimming with spot-on dialogue, grim humor, unforgettable characters, and a detective all careening toward a final reckoning at its center.

"In the dark, icy heart of a Minnesota winter, Deputy Packard, a smart and courageous gay cop, embarks on a mission to uncover the truth about his brother's disappearance. A Long Time Gone is an atmospheric, gripping, and emotional mystery about the intersections of family, memory, grief, and healing."
— Margot Douaihy, bestselling author of Scorched Grace and Blessed Water

"The most compelling thrillers are written about the ones we love but fear we will never truly know."
— Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author of Still See You Everywhere

"A gorgeous story of loss and redemption."
— Ashley Winstead, author of Midnight is the Darkest

A LONG TIME GONE by Joshua Moehling
publishes February 4, 2025

Enter the Goodreads contest for a chance to win an early arc https://srcbks.com/4bFEVTl

Preorder your copy today:
Bookshop.org https://srcbks.com/4cZsSkN
B&N https://srcbks.com/3XSviNZ
AMZ https://srcbks.com/462a81Y
BAM https://srcbks.com/3Ln2IwF

10/07/2024

B&N Rewards and Premium members this is your time to shine

✨get 25% off ALL preorders through 7/17 ✨

Rewards memberships are FREE or with a premium membership, you can bump the savings an extra 10% off ALL PREORDERS!

Use code PREORDER25 at checkout

We're put together a must read list for mystery thriller horror fans!
July titles:
Woman in the Garden https://srcbks.com/3Sqc7bB
Drowning House https://srcbks.com/4b14HlR
Ghost Camera https://srcbks.com/3Umdh8s

August titles:
TRIALS OF LILA DALTON https://srcbks.com/3RyXFgG
THROUGH THE MIDNIGHT DOOR https://srcbks.com/4b2MIeI
PERFECT SON https://srcbks.com/3Q48CW4
BROKEN TRUTH https://srcbks.com/3U5cgjW
MURDERS IN GREAT DIDDLING https://srcbks.com/440aB3D
HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE https://srcbks.com/4aTpua6

October:
BOYFRIEND https://srcbks.com/4aVDlwF
CHRISTMAS JIGSAW MURDERS https://srcbks.com/3UasyrU
SPECIMEN https://srcbks.com/3uw7kvP
IN THE BLINK OF A PIE https://srcbks.com/4aCXuYG
THIS GIRL’S A KILLER https://srcbks.com/3SuB0md

November:
KILL YOURS, KILL MINE https://srcbks.com/4aUNgTd

January:
TELL ME WHAT YOU DID https://srcbks.com/3WeIWd2
CRASH https://srcbks.com/3WfWDs0

February:
A LONG TIME GONE https://srcbks.com/3XSviNZ
VENGEFUL DEAD https://srcbks.com/3zD3S4D

March:
WARD D https://srcbks.com/3Y2Y9zj

05/07/2024

Reginald Trent was a pompous ass, so someone blew him up.

The villagers of Great Diddling know how to hide the truth, and they’re desperate to save their town.

***Cue the book and murder festival.***

Come away to Great Cornwall, (not by the sea) where a small town full of nosy nellies are drunk on of copious amounts of tea with a capital T.

The whole village—scamming elderly couple (maybe?), the meek hotelier and his spitfire wife, a seemingly dull handman, the ambitious council leader, the weary barkeep—meet the Queen’s Head Arms and Legs pub and a genius idea is born.

Katarina Bivald, author of instant New York Times bestseller and #1 Indie Next Pick The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, charms readers to death with THE MURDERS IN GREAT DIDDLING with its focus on books and book lovers, eccentric villagers, and frauds.

MURDERS IN GREAT DIDDLING by Katarina Bivald
publishes August 13, 2024

Pre-order your copy today:
B&N https://srcbks.com/440aB3D
Bookshop.org https://srcbks.com/3Ld3ZWV
BAM https://srcbks.com/4ctPmKT
AMZ https://srcbks.com/3zElkWc

03/07/2024

Spirits are drawn to salt. Be it blood or tears.

When Roos and her spirit companion, Ruth, are saved from her tyrant mother’s backroom seances by a wealthy young widow with an eye for the supernatural, the two strike up an immediate connection.

Bu then, Roos’ is entangled with a gruesome death at her new home, her innocence and sanity are questioned: is Ruth––strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries––an elaborate fantasy? Or is Roos’ reality just that horrific?

Johanna van Veen has conjured up "a gothic shocker like no other."
–– Chad McLeod Chapman

Do you have your copy of MY DARLING DREADFUL THING?
go ahead and grab it here: https://srcbks.com/3VyRXhg

01/07/2024

WOMAN IN THE GARDEN by Jill Johnson is an Amazon Editors' pick for best mystery!

Your new favorite character is hitting shelves on July 16th! Be prepared to cringe, laugh, and cry with Eustacia Rose. a disgraced toxicology professor who has always felt more comfortable around her plants than people.

When Eustacia develops a "harmless" fascination with her beautiful neighbor Simone, its only natural that she dives head first into an investigation when Simone is forced into a car and suddenly disappears...

Grab your copy here:
https://srcbks.com/3u1Jk31

13/06/2024

Such a great week for summer reading!

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early data ...

12/06/2024

TODAY ONLY download AND THERE HE KEPT HER for $1.99 from 2023 and 2024 Lammy award nominated author Joshua Moehling!

Get your copy here:
https://books2read.com/u/baLlz8

"And There He Kept Her is a dark, dark read and an exceptional debut novel.” —Mystery and Suspense Magazine

"Vivid characters and a sharp sense of place prevent this debut novel from being your average small-town puzzler.”—St Paul Post-Dispatch