Gerry Boyle at Kingdom Books, Sept. 25 -- The Books Are Here!

Maine mystery author Gerry Boyle

We always hold our breath for shipping deadlines ... but all the books have arrived, in wonderful stacks of Gerry Boyle's great mysteries, from first to last! Dave just gave me the following to share:

Kingdom Books hosts Maine author Gerry Boyle on Saturday September 25 at 11 a.m. We hope you'll ink in this hour for your foliage weekend schedule -- because Boyle doesn't often come this way, and we have copies of his 2010 Jack McMorrow mystery Damaged Goods, as well as his first book, Deadline, and his eight others.  Kingdom Books has been able to obtain many hardcover editions of all of Gerry Boyle’s backlist, including third printings of his elusive first book Deadline printed in 1993 by North Country Press.

A bibliography of his Jack McMorrow books is as follows:

Deadline (North Country Press, Maine, 1993)

Bloodline (Putnam, 1995)

Lifeline (1996)

Potshot (1997)

Borderline (1998)

Cover Story (1999)

Pretty Dead (2003)

Home Body (2004)

Damaged Goods (2010)

Boyle has started a second series in 2009 in the Brandon Blake Series beginning with the title Port City Shakedown and we have first edition, first printing copies of this book in hardcover. The setting is the waterfront in Portland, Maine.

Signed or inscribed books can be ordered in advance (or for shipment) or when you get here.

Kingdom Books is at 283 East Village Rd in Waterford, but closest to East St. Johnsbury, just half a mile from Route 2. There's only one turn in the village and that's the one; go across the little cement bridge and bear right onto East Village Road. Look for the cinnamon-brown place on the left, half a mile up the hill, with plenty of signs.

This event is free, and we'll have blueberry muffins and more, to salute this great author. To reserve a seat or a book (or two!), call us at 802-751-8374 (yes, we're glad to ship signed copies, too), or KingdomBks@gmail.com.

The "Other" Gerry Boyle Series: Brandon Blake, Maine Noir

Tomorrow (9/25) is Gerry Boyle's visit here at Kingdom Books. "Excited" underestimates the mood -- and I've got a to-do list that I could have wrapped breakfast in, which would have been a good thing really, considering that I forgot to schedule breakfast today. Seating to put in place, bookjackets to slide into fresh bright archival over-jackets, culinary tasks (blueberry muffins, finger sandwiches, cookies, cider). And most of all, of course, confirming who'll be here among the usual guest of the shop, chatting about Boyle and his writing with them, making a list of signed books needed for anyone who can't make it tomorrow but wants to be sure their copies are set aside.

OK, so I talk a lot when the list is long. But what I want to mention is, somehow I pried open the hours last night in order to snuggle in with the Other Side of this author: the first book in his second series, PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, featuring wannabe cop (intern at this stage) Brendan Blake.

Major discovery: Gerry Boyle opened an entirely different kind of ink (or blood) for this book than for his first series. The first series, from Deadline to Damaged Goods, is a classic detective series embraced by Robert B. Parker, Tess Gerritsen, C. J. Box -- the folks who write strong traditional work.

The Brandon Blake series, though, turns out to be Really Really Dark. It probes the shadow side of coastal life, of petty crooks turned nastier during each jail stretch, and even of the "harmless" drug scenes of twenty years ago, when pot still got attention in law enforcement, before meth labs were part of the local fire department's training scene. I mean, Blake is just 22, but he's dealt all his life with a missing-presumed-dead mother, no dad around, an alcoholic grandmother ... and now, on practically his first toe-dip into crime, he's got a pyschopath threatening him and the people he cares about.

Rather than do a long write-up here, I'll refer you to Boyle's blog, the section of it that's geared to Blake and the strange parts of Boyle's own life that seem to recapitulate fiction (but strangely, strangely).

Yep, Dave rounded up some copies of PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN for tomorrow, too. Buy 'em if you dare. Keep your "Maglite" heavy-duty flashlight handy. And oh yes, this is definitely written with the same skill and quiet intensity that makes Boyle's first series such a pleasure to read.

How to Risk It All, in STRAW MAN, Gerry Boyle

Ten Jack McMorrow crime novels came out over the years before Mainer Gerry Boyle's just-released STRAW MAN. Through those ten, Jack has rescued his family from threats brought by his career as a freelance crime reporter (think New York Times and more) and also from some creeps that his wife Roxanne's career antagonized (social workers meet a tough crowd). So you'd think his cred at home would be pretty good, especially considering what a great parent he is to their daughter Sophie. Plus Jack's combat-trained (but peace-loving) neighbor Claire and his wife Mary life next door, close friends with Jack and Roxanne and their charming six-year-old.

You'd be wrong this time, though.

Some of the problem came from Jack -- walking into the house bloody and battered isn't a great example for your little daughter, right? Of course, with Jack, the fight was for someone else's sake, and for the balance of good in the universe, or at least his region of rural Maine. And it won't get in the way of the next two stories he plans to explore for the newspaper, either, especially since one of them is on indie gun sales. But this time, Roxanne doesn't see things that way.

Roxanne took a deep breath, looked up from the mug, and said, "I'm worried about Sophie."

"Why? She seemed fine." ...

"Did you look in the mirror, Jack? Your face, your hands. What the hell happened?"

"There were some guys poaching wood off the Hoddings' land."

... "You had a brawl in the woods? ... My God, Jack. You can't do this anymore. You have a daughter."

"That's why we made sure we won."

Roxanne isn't buying into Jack's reasoning -- at all. The new factor in the equation that used to balance the two of them (and their little daughter) is named Welt, and he disapproves of male violence. Roxanne thinks that's heroic: "Welt is a really nice guy. What he's doing is good. He wants to make the world a better place."

So does Jack McMorrow, when you come right down to it. That's why he got into that "brawl" in the woods, defending the assets of a vulnerable elderly couple. It's also what will pull him so deep into his two cross-pollinating stories of gun sales and local Mennonites that he'll keep telling himself -- and Roxanne -- that he has to take action to save others.

The trouble is, Roxanne doesn't believe him any longer. And Jack isn't sure whether she's already considering leaving him, for this Welt guy. In fact, each added scrap of evidence says she's almost on her way.

There's never been a situation before for Jack McMorrow that his friendship with Claire couldn't solve. Until now.

Gerry Boyle's action-packed storytelling never slows down in STRAW MAN. Every couple of pages there's a new twist, and the suspense keeps twisting tighter. When the threats in his work life angle sideways toward Roxanne and little Sophie, Jack's own risks turn almost unbearable.

Here's a plus: You don't need to read any of the other Jack McMorrow books before this one -- you can ride the fast-paced plot and feel yourself twist and agonize with Jack all the way through, without needing to know what came before this. (You might want to collect the others afterward, though, to catch up!) On the other hand, if you've been reading them all along -- and most especially the most recent, Once Burned -- the stakes will feel even higher, the danger more inescapable.

Way to go, Gerry Boyle (and Islandport Press). And Jack McMorrow.

Maine Crime Fiction from Gerry Boyle, ONCE BURNED

In the 10th title in his Jack McMorrow series, ONCE BURNED, Gerry Boyle evokes primal terror: the sum of those consuming and compelling emotions when someone threatens the life of your family, especially your child. Piling on plot threads and sharp twists, this page-turner is both a powerful work of crime fiction, and a fine New England example of what trouble a job with high stakes, some deep friendships, and determination to "do the right thing" can get a person into.

Jack McMorrow is a news writer, a journalist, living in Maine. At home, he's an active dad of Sophie, the preschool daughter he and his wife Roxanne are raising. But every now and then, and this is one of those months, he's got to step back into his work shoes and develop a long story that the New York Times will pay big bucks for, complete with sidebars and insight. His wife Roxanne's newly done with her career slot -- or at least she's supposed to be -- but one of her last actions as a social worker for the State of Maine has just turned into a blame-fest of a child's death and a furious mom, and there are newspaper reporters -- not Jack -- calling the house for comment.

One of my favorite things about reading Gerry Boyle's mysteries is that even when his protagonist is an "amateur sleuth" like Jack McMorrow, stepping over the line into pursuing the truth about a crime himself instead of just watching and recording it, the decisions up front are smart, not stupid. Jack's not the kind of person to neglect to lock a door when he knows there's a criminal around, and he's a loyal more-than-friend to his neighbor and ex-military operator Clair and Clair's wife Mary. Strong and savvy in the ways of violent criminals -- from his Vietnam war past -- Clair is even more protective of Jack's family than Jack is.

Which makes ONCE BURNED an extra scary book, because there are three people -- at least -- trying to force Jack and Roxanne to back away from their work and integrity, and all are threatening not just Jack, not just Roxanne, but little Sophie. And even Clair is getting challenged, trying to keep up the defense.

The book races into action from the start: There's an arsonist tearing apart the magazine-glow image of the little town of Sanctuary, Maine, far enough from Jack's home to make him out of reach if he's on the story, but close enough for him to keep racing over there as tragedies multiply. Meanwhile, Roxanne's former client, mom of a child who's died in foster care --- in a home that Roxane provided -- is clearly "off her meds" and setting records in stalking and threatening. And even the "good guys" out in Sanctuary and looking pretty strange by now.

"Jack," Tory said. "Somebody is threatening your property, even our family. What do you do?"

"Call the police?" I said.

"Sure, but what if the police are a half-hour away? What if by the time you see the fire, it's been burning for at least that long? What if the person doing this has free run of the town because at three a.m., everyone is asleep?"

"I don't know," I said. "You tell me."

"In a situation like this you have to take back the night, Jack," Tory said.

Jack will have to use all his skills, investigative, writing, and parental, to keep his family safe this time, and to get the massive story that will provide the paycheck his family needs.

Boyle proves once again that a really good mystery must be much more than an intricate and believable plot: It requires characters who speak to us, and echo our own loves and doubts. With Jack McMorrow and his extended family, Boyle has constructed a powerful frame of love and struggle where his storytelling consistently lays out the memorable, the involved, the must-read caring for people "like us" who rely on each other in tough and frightening situations. Jack and Roxanne -- and Sophie -- may not come through this one unscathed. But they will come through it with us, the readers, increasingly committed to their journey.

Win a Signed Copy of Gerry Boyle's PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN

Dave and I enjoyed a visit earlier this year from Gerry Boyle, who intrigued the crowd here at Kingdom Books as he talked about his latest book in his Jack McMorrow investigations series, set in Maine: Damaged Goods. Gerry also signed some copies of Port City Shakedown, his first in the Brandon Blake series, which takes a darker, more gritty route. Scheduled for 2011 release is the second one -- and to make sure we're ready, Gerry is making a great offer this week. Here's what he said:

Port City Giveaway

Hey there. We’re psyched about Brandon Blake No 2, AKA Port City Deathtrap. In fact, we’re so psyched that we want to make sure you’ve read Brandon Blake No. 1. Port City Shakedown, so you’re ready.

So you haven’t read Port City Shakedown? No problem. Do two things. Use the e-mail link below (and if you've got a moment, also leave a comment here on the Kingdom Books blog) --  and shoot me an e-mail before midnight (EST) at the end of Wednesday December 22. We’ll do the random-pick thing and send the winner a signed, personalized hardcover of Brandon Blake No. 1. Read it and be ready.

 

Blake as a young rookie cop. Blake bringing his baggage, hard-earned in PC No. 1. Blake knowing he’s going to do the right thing, no matter what, no matter who stands in his way. Blake up against some hard guys, and some not-so-hard guys who may be even badder.

 

Comment. E-mail. Brandon’s waiting.

Gerry Boyle
gerry@gerryboyle.com
Read the blog @ gerryboyle.com

A Nose for Trouble: Journalist-Detective Jack McMorrow in DAMAGED GOODS, Gerry Boyle

In some families, it's the economy that pushes the second spouse or partner back into the workforce, even though the children are still young. For Jack McMorrow, totally committed dad to his four-year-old daughter Sophie, the career move comes in response to his wife's pain: A social worker who faces situations where kids are sometimes removed from their abusive parents, Roxanne Masterson comes home from a hellish day, shaken and drained, having been through danger and still wearing a threat over her head from a Satanist father whose children were literally being starved.

And Jack, quick to step up as Roxanne admits she wants out of her emotionally exhausting job, takes out the list of investigative notions he's been building as a return to his freelance journalism work. His editor makes it easy ... but who would have guessed the story he steps into would crowd into his personal life?

Well, actually, Roxanne could have guessed. After all, it's happening to her, too. The crazies are coming after her, even coming into the home that she and Jack share, calling for payback -- you take my kids, I'll take yours. And Jack's "story" has narrowed to a young woman named Mandi (it's clearly not her real name though), who's been supporting herself in the small Maine town by "companionship" offered through the personal ads. No surprise that she'd crossed paths with some nasty characters. She might even be drawing them closer, to Jack and Roxanne and little Sophie as well as to herself.

Soon the tension is pressuring Jack and Roxanne's marriage as well:

I embraced her, and Roxanne said, "I feel like my house is falling down, Jack. All around me. People coming here, my God. It never happens Maybe I'll take Sophie and go away. Go to New York. Take her to the zoo and Central Park, stay in a hotel."

And when the investigating police officer doesn't take action right away, Jack's wife takes her own:

"Bullshit," Roxanne snapped, and she marched to the cruiser, opened the passenger's side door and got in. "Who do I have to call," I heard her say, "to make you take this seriously?" And then she slammed the car door shut.

One of the best parts of Jack and Roxanne's life, though -- after Sophie and the sense of doing some good in their two jobs -- is living next door to Clair and Mary, friends literally willing to risk life and limb for the endangered family. Clair's background as a soldier in Vietnam becomes significant, not just for his ability to take up arms and his willingness to be at Jack's back or front or whatever it takes, but also for his experience with the personal effects of violence, whether done to you or done by you. Sane and strong, Clair helps Jack maneuver and respond to the chaos around him, showing the best of what war can do to a person's thought processes.

But even Clair's skills and Jack's outrage can't defeat evil, and when death does take place around them, it's irreversible. How will all this affect Sophie? And why is Roxanne reacting so negatively to Jack's usual efforts to rescue the helpless, this time in the person of lonely and battered Mandi and her cat?

Boyle's own years as a reporter and experience with both small-town and regional crime give him great assets for this book. But the best tool he has is the well-honed ability to pace the action, let the characters mature, and tangle the knots of threat and shadow, until with hard work Jack McMorrow discovers more truth than he wanted to see.

This is Boyle's ninth novel, and his eighth featuring McMorrow; last year he opened a second series with young Brandon Boyle. DAMAGED GOODS is published by Down East in Maine and is available through Boyle's web site, as well as through online retailers. The web site, www.gerryboyle.com, also offers a video trailer for the book, some discussion on why people do and don't want to see trailers, and insight into McMorrow's past. You don't have to read the earlier books to enjoy this one, but once you've emerged from the tension of Jack's confrontation with fear and pain, you'll probably want to gather the others. Here's the sequence:

1993, Deadline
1995, Bloodline
1996, Lifeline
1997, Potshot
1998, Borderline
1999, Cover Story
2003, Pretty Dead
2004, Home Body

The Brandon Blake detective novel, Port City Shakedown, came out in 2009.

Gerry Boyle is touring with DAMAGED GOODS in Maine and New Hampshire this spring, and Vermont in the fall (watch for the date for Kingdom Books in late September). Tomorrow: a guest appearance from Boyle on this blog.

Catching Up With Maine Crime Writers Gerry Boyle, Lea Wait, Barb Ross ...

Gerry Boyle

Lea Wait

At the New England Crime Bake, it's great to catch up with authors you haven't seen in a while. Today I especially caught up with some Maine mystery authors, so here's a bit of news:

Gerry Boyle is working on his next Jack McMorrow book, savoring the differences between this investigator and the more wounded personality featured Boyle's other series, that of Brandon Blake, whose appearance in Port City Black and White gave us such a good read this season.

And Lea Wait reminded us that the Maine Crime Writers blog is featuring ... ta-da! ... the New England Crime Bake this week! Check it out here.

Had a great discussion with Barb Ross about reader involvement in the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime, and saw Kate Flora in passing. And meeting Donald Bain and Renée Paley-Bain, creators of the "Murder, She Wrote" series (set in Maine; the authors don't live there) was also a treat.

Tomorrow will be more geographically diverse, as the day starts with a talk from the Bains, Michael Palmer, Barry Eisler, and Nancy Pickard, moderated by Roberta Isleib. So ... how come you're not here? Three cheers for Sisters In Crime, which collaborates with Mystery Writers of America to pull this off each year. My kinda scene.

New Englanders Who Commit (Fictional) Murder ...

I got quite a kick out of this line from a recent AAA New England article that features Gerry Boyle, Archer Mayor, and other New England mystery/crime fiction authors:

Boyle commits fictional murder easily and relies upon Jack McMorrow and Brandon Blake for happy endings.

OMG. The more Jack McMorrow and Brandon Blake I read, the more I realize the happy endings are always going to be mixed ones, with losses to reckon. But still, it's a great line, and I had fun reading the article. Thanks, Gerry, for passing it along!

Maine crime fiction writer Gerry Boyle

For more about the cover image (which really is Boyle in Maine!), check out Gerry's website blog, http://www.gerryboyle.com. Fun reading, and good to know the next Jack McMorrow, Once Burned, is near the finish line.

Naughty and Nice: Three Diverse Crime Novels for Your December List

Three crime fiction treats for your reading pleasure, now that the evenings are so long:

• Barbara Cleverly, INVITATION TO DIE.
• Martin Edwards, GALLOWS COURT.
• Gerry Boyle, RANDOM ACT.

Crime fiction fans are fortunate readers: They can dip deeply into a series, or explore a wide range, and either way, there's some great reading among the 2019 titles!

Let's start close to this reviewer's Vermont location with Gerry Boyle's 2019 title, RANDOM ACT. The 12th in Boyle's highly enjoyable dark crime series featuring Maine journalist Jack McMorrow, this is a gem of action, risk, and vicious crime. Most dangerous in this title is the romantic passion that Jack's Special Forces neighbor Louis drops into ... with a mysterious blond who brings Russian crime attention to the neighborhood. The only risk on this one is that you may need two copies, so you can give one to a friend as a holiday gift and keep the other for your own shelf. Well worth it! (We've been fans of all Boyle's work, always a good read. And Islandport Press does a nice job.)

Can't figure out why I haven't reviewed more of the crime fiction by Martin Edwards. GALLOWS COURT comes via Poisoned Pen Press, which is now a Sourcebooks imprint. Set in London, 1930, it's an astonishing classic sleuth novel featuring a woman detective clearly operating outside the law, Rachel Savernake. Double points of view keep the twists spinning, and the finale meets the quintessential criterion for a good novel: a perfect fit with what's happened, and yet an intense surprise. Reading Jacqueline Winspear, Charles Todd, Barbara Cleverly? Try Martin Edwards and put a pillow over the phone for the duration.

Classic English detective (inspector) fiction, Roaring Twenties, Cambridge, and romance: What a divine mix! This second in Barbara Cleverly's John Redfyre series (the first was Fall of Angels last year) has a delightful set of treats, along with a series of mysterious crimes that involve multiple murders and insight into a "dark and bloody war." A gem of a comment to Detective Inspector Redfyre from a medical examiner in here:

"They say death's a leveller," the doctor murmured, "but I don't know. It's hardly a scientific view, but it always seems to my jaundiced eye to accentuate differences. And sometimes it distorts. Subjects take on a deceptively saintly aspect—and the reverse. Looking at our bloke, I'd say 'saintly,' wouldn't you? He may have been an utter blackguard in life, of course. That's up to you to discover, my friend."

You don't need to read the first in the series, but Cleverly, published by Soho Crime/Soho Press, is a consistently agile and entertaining storyteller; grab this one, and the odds suggest you'll want some or all of the others. (The Joe Sandilands series, her earlier one, is highly satisfying.)

Good luck with your list ... hope this gives you a boost into the season, whether for gifts or for self-spoiling stress relief and delight.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Guest Post: Gerry Boyle, Maine Crime Fiction

A warm welcome to Down East Maine author Gerry Boyle, whose newest book in the Jack McMorrow series, DAMAGED GOODS, was our featured review yesterday. My husband Dave has been collecting Gerry's books "forever" and asked Gerry ....


Dave asked if I’d write a bit about my influences, some favorite mysteries. So I swiveled my chair, reached for the shelf. Books and writers I really like—they get to stay in the study. Others are vanquished to bookshelves elsewhere in this rambling old house.

So what did I come up with? It’s an eclectic mix:

• The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. First published in 1968 by the husband-wife team from Sweden. Their Martin Beck mysteries are solid police procedurals. You can’t go wrong with any of them.
• Just a Corpse at Twilight by Janwillem van de Wetering. The Zen master of mysteries, van de Wetering wrote mysteries set in Amsterdam. They have a dreamy quality to them that I find beguiling. A brilliant guy, van de Wetering lived all around the world before settling on the Maine coast. He died in 2008.
• Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler. Enough said. I turn to these from time to time to witness wonderful writing. Every page has a sentence you feel you should remember. This one, picked because that’s where the book fell open. “He lay smeared on the ground, on his back, at the base of a bush, in that bag-of-clothes position that always means the same thing.” Nice.
• God Save the Child by Robert B. Parker. Chandler’s only true heir. I read the last Spenser, then reread some of this one, his second, published in 1974. I like the early books best. Parker was a gifted writer, known for his dialogue, but his descriptive stuff, which fell away over the years, was very good.
• Blitz by Ken Bruen. The UK’s master of dark and gritty crime novels set in South London and Galway. Inspector Brant, his amoral London detective, is a masterful creation.
• The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald. I’ve read everything MacDonald wrote and have a collection of his Travis McGee paperbacks with their quaintly lurid covers. A great storyteller, skilled at narrative, powerfully descriptive. “She was a tall and slender woman, possibly in her early thirties. Her skin had the extraordinary fineness of grain, and the translucence you seen in small children and fashion models. In her fine long hands, delicacy of wrists, floating texture of dark hair, and in the mobility of the long narrow sensitive structuring of her face there was the look of something almost too well made, too highly bred, too finely drawn for all the natural crudities of human existence.” Is that good or what?

So these are a few of the influences. Reading the work of writers like these, and spending more than a decade as a newspaper reporter, landed me in this chair. Today I continue with PORT CITY UNDERGROUND, the second Brandon Blake mystery. I’m pondering a character whose biggest flaw is a highly developed sense of right and wrong. Could that flaw be fatal?

PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE: Dark and Tender Crime Fiction from Maine Author Gerry Boyle

Official release Sept. 16, but NOW available.

Brandon Blake, the police wannabe from Port City Shakedown -- first of Gerry Boyle's second, and grimmer, series, this one in Portland, Maine -- has made it onto the force at last. But he's still a rookie, partners with his ultra-fit training office Kat, and his emotions run high and stormy. Raised by his grandmother for the worst of reasons, Brandon's "inner child" is raging. Unfortunately, he's got little control of that emotional demon. And when a new mom who's a long-time druggie with nasty boyfriends turns out to have really "lost" her baby -- taken from the filthy apartment somehow -- Brandon's lack of control becomes a liability to his work.

With Kat, he questions a street-living woman named Lizzie, hoping that older woman might have noticed something that could help with the case. She's not exactly on target, though.

"Nah. Ain't seen nothin'. Got f*in' gum, Blake?"

"I got gum, Lizzie." He reached into his shirt pocket, took out a pack. Held it out and the old woman snatched it away, stuffed it somewhere under her layers. Sweatshirt, sweaters, greasy parka.

"You think of something you forgot, you give a shout, honey," Kat said.

"I had a baby," Lizzie said. "Gestapo took it."

"Sorry," Brandon said.

"Had the devil in her," the old woman said. "You gotta drive a stake in 'em. You gotta drive a stake through their little hearts."

She smiled, not quite toothless. They looked at her uneasily, got back in the cruiser.

"There's a birth mother you don't want to go searching for," Brandon said.

"I guess," Kat said.

"So where do you think it is?"

"The baby?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know," Kat said.

"Maybe [the mother] killed him, by accident," Brandon said. "Got rid of the body. Or maybe one of the crackheads killed him, took the body with him when he left, tossed it in the trunk."

"Jeez, Blake," Kat said. "Glass half empty or what?"

For sure, Brandon Blake lives with the glass half empty. The only part of his life that's sweet lately is the part he shares with his girlfriend Mia, who fell for him during the events of Port City Shakedown. But with Brandon's simmering anger and determination to find the baby, punish crime, find and arrest evildoers -- even when off-duty -- he's not exactly contributing to a balanced home life. And he's making problems for the police team, too.

Things get even more tense when Mia brings home new, classy, restaurant-oriented friends, socializing with them on the boat where she and Brandon live, and leaving him dangling as the one who's not much use for the parties. His misery makes the rookie cop try even harder to pursue leads on the baby's disappearance, and other grim realities of the poverty/drugs world at the foulest edges of town.

Boyle is an experienced author, whose Jack McMorrow crime series has already honed his sense of pace and tension, and his ability to portray both the desperation of poverty and drug use, and the tenderness of family and friendship when they're allowed to blossom from the rank soil. The Brandon Blake Port City series will be a classic, showing the reality of New England coast life -- a mix of myth and painful reality. Brandon's chances for redemption don't look good, but somehow people end up giving him a chance ... and he may yet solve the case. Whether he'll still have a girlfriend by the end, well, that's another matter. So is the physical safety of everyone involved with him and his dangerous path.

Reminder: Gerry Boyle's Offer Ends at Midnight on Wednesday

Make three minutes to tune in to Maine crime fiction author Gerry Boyle, as he offers a signed copy of PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN -- check it out.

And coming soon: a swerve away from US mysteries, to a new one from Greece ... complete with guest author blog post. Check in during the next few evenings.

Gerry Boyle: Review Plus Guest Blog Post

Two days of Gerry Boyle and Jack McMorrow ... starting tomorrow.

Tomorrow's News: HYPOTHERMIA and an Offer from Maine Author Gerry Boyle

Here are two jackets (US and UK) for Arnaldur Indridason's remarkable crime novel, HYPOTHERMIA -- check in for a discussion tomorrow.

Also, Gerry Boyle is about to reveal his second in the "Port City" series, a gritty and well-crafted dark crime fiction sequence featuring Brandon Blake. But first, he's making an offer that's hard to resist. Details on Sunday.

News Bites

Crime and noir author Dave Zeltserman has taken advantage of the new and exciting reader access to e-books and brought back into print FAST LANE -- and announced that ON DANGEROUS GROUND: STORIES OF WESTERN NOIR should be available this fall. Good news for those who like it dark (and nice timing for the season!).

Laura Stevenson, author of a lush and lingering novel of Vermont, Return in Kind, is featured this week on Vermont Views. Nice to see this friend and fine writer getting more attention!

I enjoyed rediscovering the three mysteries that British author Sarah Dunant wrote, before her turn to the Italian historical landscape and literary fiction. Fatlands won the Silver Dagger Award for Dunant and features Hannah Wolfe, an independent and feisty private investigator. There's plenty of danger, and there are some very satisfying twists. Here's a Dunant list of works, with the Hannah Wolfe mysteries in boldface:

• Exterminating Angels (with Peter Busby as Peter Dunant), 1983
• Intensive Care (with Peter Busby as Peter Dunant), 1986
• Snow Storms in a Hot Climate, 1988
• Birth Marks, 1991
• Fatlands, 1993
• The War of the Words: The Political Correctness Debate, 1995
• Under My Skin, 1995
• The Age of Anxiety, 1996
• Transgressions, 1997
• Mapping the Edge, 1999
• The Birth of Venus, 2003
• In the Company of the Courtesan, 2006
• Sacred Hearts, 2009

Last but not least: Dave's enjoying Maine author Gerry Boyle's newest book,  Damaged Goods. I'm looking forward to Boyle's visit here at Kingdom Books this Saturday. I'm eager to hear about his writing, and I'm curious about the connections between Boyle and Paul Doiron, another Maine mystery author. Reminder: Reserve signed copies of Boyle's books and we'll ship them, if you can't be here in person.

Mystery News at Kingdom Books

Dave and I enjoyed Louise Penny's talk in Brattleboro, Vermont, this afternoon -- and learned that she plans to alternate locations in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series: one in the (fictional) Eastern Townships village of Three Pines, the next in another location, then back again. This week's great new release from Penny, her sixth, is BURY YOUR DEAD -- and it's set (mostly) in Quebec City. So you know where the setting is for the manuscript of number seven, which she handed to her editor last week. Penny's reason for the decision: Otherwise, she'd use up too much of Three Pines as either murderers or victims (although she restricts herself to one murder per book, she noted!).

Tomorrow (Monday) we'll place some more signed copies of Penny's books online, and we'll add news about an intriguing novella of hers, as well.

Waiting to order your signed copies of Gerry Boyle's Maine mysteries? Don't wait too long ... although we had stacks of every single one of Boyle's newspaperman-turned-detective novels here for his visit on Sept. 25 (as well as the first book of his Brandon Blake series), half of them are already sold and gone. Thanks, Gerry, for the great talk you gave, for the signatures, and for the "shout out" on your blog.

Dana Stabenow, whose Alaska mysteries feature Kate Shugak, will release her next book, Though Not Dead, on Feb. 1 -- still a lot of weeks and a lot of snowfall from now -- and she also announced that her hard-to-find first book, A COLD DAY FOR MURDER, is being reprinted by Poisoned Pen Press in hardcover, with the same release date. Click here for her newsletter.

Last but not least, Michael Connelly's new book, THE REVERSAL, comes out this week -- as the 16th in the Harry Bosch series and the third for Mickey Haller. More on that, later in the week.

E-Book Sales Jump 150% -- And News for Signed Books

According to PW Daily, the Publishers Weekly e-newsletter, sales of e-books showed a 150% jump in July's figures (presumably the latest available). This can only be good news for readers (more good books available at lower prices) and publishers (finally, an escape from the book-business tradition of accepting returned books from previous "purchases" by shops, and some relief to production and storage costs). What it will mean for authors and bookshops is still up in the air, but here at the Kingdom Books blog, we'll keep letting you know as special e-books appear.

For now, I know what it means for me: If I have a chance to read something as a file first, I may do it -- and then purchase the hardcover book, because it feels better and is gives a nicer reading experience than most e-readers can yet offer. Also, I love author-signed books, with that authenticity endowed by the author's presence. (Yes, that's another reminder about how excited we are to have Maine mystery author Gerry Boyle coming here this weekend to sign stacks of his current and earlier books, right back to the first title. Dave's taking reservations for copies.)

So while the "outer world" is introducing e-books, Dave and I are focusing on providing the nicest copies of author-signed mysteries. Here's our own statistic to accompany PW's: Fifty percent of the mysteries and crime fiction here are signed. That's a 150% increase from last year. Expect more.

Making a List, Checking It Twice

From Dave's Desk:

As 2010 draws to a close, many bookstores and websites are choosing their top bestsellers for the year. Here at Kingdom Books we have another kind of list: the authors whose work we have sold in multiple different titles. Since we started Kingdom Books more than eight years ago we have enjoyed opportunities to carry an author’s long-term body of writing, not just one or two copies of the latest releases. One big "plus" is that we get to know the writer and the books better this way. Here's part of our current list:

Dave Zeltserman

Eliot Pattison

Archer Mayor

Louise Penny

Gerry Boyle

Laurie R. King

Nevada Barr

Dennis Lehane

Donald Westlake

Lawrence Block

Arthur Upfield

Walter Mosley

Deborah Crombie

Carla Neggers

Leighton Gage

Colin Cotterill

Cara Black

Peter Lovesey

Michael Connelly

Barry Moser (illustrator)

We look forward to more good reading and conversations in 2011.

Exciting New Releases for 2011

It's the last night of the last week of the old year, and I've been cramming mysteries into my hours. Tomorrow, January 1, look for a splash on the new translation of THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X (Yogisha X No Kenshin), which won the Japanese equivalent of the National Book Award for author Keigo Higashino. Jan Burke's praise is on the front cover of the advance reading copy.

Plus I'm hugely enamored of DEVIL-DEVIL by Graeme Kent, a new entry for the Soho Crime list -- from a prolific author and BBC broadcasting officer and consultant. Set in the Solomon Islands, it introduces Sergeant Ben Kella and his friends (and among them, enemies). It's a winner!

Also coming in the new year, a fresh Paris mystery from Cara Black, espionage from David Downing, dark crime set Down East from Gerry Boyle, Clea Simon's delightful animal psychic mystery, and the new release from mother-and-son team Charles Todd. I can hardly wait!

If you've got a mystery title coming out in 2011 that you want to talk about, or have in mind one you're waiting to read, mention it here. Why not? We're all in this together ... for the fun of it, and for more.