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WHAT WE'RE READING
"Mortal Sins"
by Penn Williamson
New Orleans homicide cop Daman Rourke is the only one not surprised when his ex-
lover, sultry screen goddess Remy Lelourie, is accused of killing her husband.
He knows she's capable of murder, but did she actually do it? Penn Williamson's
"Mortal Sins" is a Roaring Twenties thriller with plenty of heat.
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"Middle of Nowhere"
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"The Confirmation"
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PENZLER'S PICKS
Otto Penzler--founder of the Mysterious Press and the Mysterious Bookshop,
Edgar-winning mystery editor, and leading mystery collector--is perhaps the
world's foremost expert on the mystery story. In each month's installment of Penzler's Picks, he offers exclusive recommendations to Amazon.com readers.
Here's what Otto had to say about Mark Coggins's first novel, "The Immortal
Game":
Here's a first novel that pays homage to Hammett, Chandler, and every wisecracking PI in the genre, and then some. It also introduces one of the most delightful characters to come along in some time: August Riordan, a jazz bass-playing PI who is cynical, irreverent, and a laugh a minute. Mark Coggins slyly references his mentors--Riordan is superstitious about the clock in front of Samuel's Jewelers, and he eats at John's Grill. Although mystery buffs will find these references throughout the story, readers who do not pick up on them will not come away feeling cheated. The setting here is present-day San Francisco and the very modern world of Silicon Valley, where software theft has replaced "the stuff that dreams are made of."The aptly named Edwin Bishop, a multimillionaire entrepreneur, has developed advanced chess software able to make decisions while playing human opponents, unlike the usual software that tends to follow set moves. Bishop himself is a highly intelligent, arrogant man who lives his eccentric life in his mansion with several paid female companions. He is unaware that his software has been stolen until he stumbles across a vendor demonstrating his game at a trade show. Enter Riordan, who must negotiate his way through the world of high technology, jazz, and the underground arena of S/M as he searches for the missing software. His sometime partner in this venture is Chris Duckworth, who works part-time for Bishop's competitor, and who, in his spare time, works as a transvestite at the Stigmata bar. The characters in this charming, fresh, and entertaining mystery are fully fleshed; the dialogue is fast, compelling, and witty; and the grainy photographs that accompany each chapter opening add a pleasing dimension to this delightful first outing. --Otto Penzler
"The Immortal Game"
by Mark Coggins
Read more
Read the complete list of Otto
Penzler's picks for June 2000.
RHYME AND REASON: AN INTERVIEW WITH JEFFERY DEAVER
Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs have gone south in "The Empty Chair"--to North
Carolina, that is, as the quadriplegic Rhyme prepares for experimental surgery
that's postponed when the two NYPD stars are asked to find a fugitive. Jeffery
Deaver spoke with Amazon.com about his latest thriller, his research, and his
breakneck publishing schedule for 2000.
Read our interview with Jeffery Deaver.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH SUJATA MASSEY
While living in Japan, Sujata Massey wrote her first book "just for practice."
The practice paid off: that mystery, "The Salaryman's Wife," went on to win the
1998 Agatha Award for best first mystery novel, and Massey's subsequent one-book-a-year schedule has produced three other entries in the acclaimed series,
including "The Floating Girl." Massey spoke to Amazon.com about bringing
Japanese culture to life through the eyes of her Japanese American heroine, Rei
Shimura.
Read our interview with Sujata Massey.
NEW IN PAPERBACK
"High Five"
by Janet Evanovich
In this fifth entry in Janet Evanovich's increasingly popular series, Stephanie
Plum's not making enough money at the bounty-hunting biz; her red-hot love
affair with Detective Joe Morelli has cooled off; and to top it all off, Uncle
Fred the cheapskate has disappeared, leaving behind some suspicious photographs
of body parts in garbage bags and links to some really dangerous people.
Read more
"Acts of Malice"
by Perri O'Shaughnessy
Perri O'Shaughnessy's Nina Reilly thrillers are widely acclaimed as some of the
best legal mysteries going. In "Acts of Malice," Nina defends a man accused of
murdering his own brother on the ski slopes of Lake Tahoe. The problem is, he
may be guilty--and Nina may be in some very deep powder.
Read more
View our complete list of new paperbacks in
Mystery & Thrillers.
"Blanche Passes Go"
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Browse Mystery & Thrillers in Auctions.
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And be sure to check out our Antiquarian Book Shop.
