February 20, 7 PM EST

Please join us for a fascinating hour of book talk with Deborah Crombie, Sean Doolittle, Carlene O’Connor & E. A. Aymar. They’ll not only read from their brand-new mysteries, they’ll answer your questions and divulge writing secrets, such as: How do they write stories that readers love? We can’t wait to hear! Emcee is our very own Lisa Black.

Not only is the event FREE, you and three other attending readers can win the drawing for one of their exciting new novels. Wishing you the best of luck!

 A Killing of Innocents by Deborah Crombie
Device Free Weekend by Sean Doolittle
Murder at an Irish Bakery by Carlene O’Connor
No Home for Killers by E. A. Aymar

 As always, our guests’ (or their characters’) favorite snacks with recipes are posted below. Feel culinary and adventurous? Dining and drinking will commence at the start of the show. Bring your favorite beverage!

Sign up soon! If you’re among the first 100 in the Zoom room, you can personally debrief these best-selling authors. You can also catch them on Facebook Live and interrogate via comments.

Although Deborah Crombie’s pair of married detectives, Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, work for Scotland Yard, Deborah grew up outside of Dallas, Texas, and still lives near there today. But she spent several years in both Scotland and England, and a trip to Yorkshire cemented the ideas for her first Duncan and Gemma mystery.

A Killing of Innocents, February 7, 2023

In their 19th outing, Gemma has been assigned to a task force to deal with a growing problem of knifings across London. Duncan’s latest case is a stabbing—it doesn’t fit the pattern…but the young doctor victim had secrets, and so, perhaps, do Duncan and Gemma.

Deborah’s favorite cocktail is the very English Bramble, made with gin, a splash of lemon, and crème de mûre, a blackberry liqueur. She often uses Chambord (with black raspberries) instead of the crème de mûre, but either one will work.

Sean Doolittle is a Barry- and International Thriller Writers- award winning writer of eight critically acclaimed novels and numerous short stories. He lives in Iowa with his family.

Device Free Weekend, February 28, 2023

In Device Free Weekend, a tech billionaire invites his six best college friends to a weekend getaway on a gorgeous private island to unplug, relax and reacquaint. It’s just what any modern person needs…until day two, when the six wake to find their host gone, along with any means of communication with the outside world, and only an increasingly dangerous game left for them to play.

The lavish dinner on the guests’ first night include red wine and persimmon tarts…so if you really want to dine like a billionaire, here’s a recipe.

Carlene O’Connor does not actually live in Ireland, though she spends as much time there as possible—and she is mostly Irish, starting with a great-grandmother who emigrated in 1897. Carlene also dated a ton of Irish guys and hit all the best Irish pubs while living in New York City, so she knows of what she writes. Carlene now lives in California and Chicago.

Murder at an Irish Bakery, ‎February 21, 2023

In the ninth book in the Irish Village series, the best bakery in the county is about to be featured on a TV competition show, and everyone in town is angling to either win or at least get their faces on the screen. But these rivalries turn deadly and it’s up to husband and wife police detectives Siobhan and Macdara to keep the death rate from rising like a well-made loaf.

Carlene likes to snack on Sargento snack packs featuring pepper jack cheese, peanuts, and raisins—usually paired with a Nespresso.

Ed Aymar was born in Panama and now lives where most of his works are set, the Washington DC area, where he runs the Noir at the Bar event and the monthly Crime (Fiction) Works newsletter. He also makes his own highly entertaining marketing videos to post on social media, featuring himself and a less than wholly supportive computer generated A.I. companion. Outside of writing, his interests are kickball and underground hip-hop groups.

No Home for Killers, February 1, 2023

In this latest book, when jazz musician Markus is murdered, his two sisters aren’t particularly surprised. They haven’t spoken to him since mom’s funeral themselves—but family is family. The two women have to put aside both their own differences and their own demons to find the truth.

His character Emily likes amaretto sours. Nothing fancy, just the basics: mix (half and half) sweet and sour mix and amaretto, then fill the rest of the glass with lemon lime soda.

Our MC:

Lisa Black is the New York Times bestselling author of 16 suspense novels, including works that have been translated into six languages, optioned for film, and shortlisted for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award. She is also a Certified Latent Print Examiner and a Certified Crime Scene Analyst, beginning her forensics career at the Coroner’s office in Cleveland Ohio and then the police department in Cape Coral, Florida. She has spoken to readers and writers at numerous conferences, been a consultant on CourtTV and was a Guest of Honor at 2021 Killer Nashville.