First Editions F -M

The following  are a SAMPLE of some of the SIGNED FIRST EDITIONS we have for sale.  Please note that we have limited quantities of many of these books, and all are subject to prior sale, so please call soon to order (805) 374-0084 or go to our order page. Call to see what we have that's not listed!

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It’s June in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen, owner of The Cookie Jar, has been commissioned by the mayor’s wife to bake 1,100 cookies for a 3-day charity fundraiser.  Furthermore, her business partner, Lisa, persuades Hannah to set up an apple turnover stand at the event. Hannah has also been recruited to participate as a magician’s assistant in the talent show segment. The major wrinkle is that the host of the program is Professor Bradford Ramsey, a former suitor and all-around cad who courted not only Hannah but her younger sister as well. When Ramsey is found dead backstage with a turnover in his hand, Hannah is compelled once more to ferret out a killer.  As always, delectable cookie and dessert recipes are included. Do culinary mysteries get any better than this?

It’s Christmastime in Lake Eden, Minnesota and Hannah Swenson is busy preparing the dessert menu items for the upcoming wedding of the Reverend Knudsen. Unfortunately, the joy of the Holiday season is undercut by another murder right in the center of town. Larry Jaeger is a wild speculator who liked to live on the edge and Hannah has the misfortune to find him stone cold dead in his office at the Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot.  The list of possible suspects is longer than a child’s wish list for Santa, but with the aid of friends and family Hannah will try to catch the killer. This 12^th mystery in the series is another delicious blend of culinary and literary delights.

Returning from Macao, Colonel Alexei “Volk” Volkovoy, covert agent of the Russian army and a ruthless member of the Soviet underworld, is arrested at Moscow airport as the prime suspect in a murder case. Thanks to the intervention of his superior, the General, Volk is released and sent to America to investigate. The result is more danger and more death as someone is determined to bury the past by eliminating Volk. This riveting novel provides hardcore action that immerses you in the dark political undercurrents of modern Russia. 

Two men with the same name, from the same family, die on the same night. One is a gangland slaying and the other is, apparently, a road accident. Or is it? When family member Gina Rafferty starts asking questions she starts on a path of inquiry that will push certain powerful interests to their limits placing her in jeopardy. This is the first in a series of novels revealing the dark and hidden underside of globalization. The lust for power and the corrupting influence of money are the driving forces in this modern Irish noir tale.

Our favorite obsessive-compulsive detective is back in action again. Police Captain Leland Stottlemeyer is more than a little resentful of Monk’s getting the lion’s share of the credit for the department’s crime-solving success. So when budget cuts become necessary Adrian Monk gets the metaphorical ax. But even without pay, Monk cannot stop investigating, even phoning in anonymous tips to the department every day.

 In Monk’s newest hardcover adventure, he goes to Germany to find his therapist, but inadvertently sees  a man with six fingers across a crowded town square, the man who may be responsible for the death of  Monk’s wife.

How else could we start the new year other than with Lee Goldberg? Yes, Lee returns with a new series based on the Monk T.V. show.  While Monk’s house is being fumigated, his assistant Natalie and her daughter are kind enough to welcome him into their home. Unfortunately, it’s not quite up to Monk’s standards. But as he tries to get his surroundings straightened out, he also needs to straighten out the mystery of the death of a dog at a local firehouse that occurs on the same night as a fatal house fire. And, much to his horror, Monk will have to dig through a lot of dirt to find answers.

Monk has followed his assistant Natalie on her vacation to Hawaii – she’s not too thrilled and is even less thrilled when Monk decides to investigate the death-by-coconut of Helen Gruber, a rich tourist.  The investigation leads to a TV psychic who claims to have a message from Helen Gruber’s spirit.  Can Monk solve the murder and expose the psychic for the fraud he is while dealing with geckos and the horror of unsynchronized ceiling fans?  As author Lee Child says, “Can books be better than television? You bet they can—when Lee Goldberg’s writing them.” – and we agree!

Mr. Monk has met his match – obsessive-compulsive science fiction fans!  Monk must deal with the crazed fans of the hit TV series BEYOND EARTH when Monk investigates the murder of Conrad Stipe, the show’s creator.

Monk is horrified when he learns there's going to be a blue flu in San Francisco-until Capt. Stottlemeyer explains that it just means the police plan to call in "sick" until they get a better contract. The good news is the labor dispute will give Monk a chance to get back on the force. The bad news is it means he'll be a "scab"-and he doesn't like the sound of that either.  But before he knows it, Monk has his badge back, and his own squad to command. Unfortunately, some of the squad members make Monk look like a paragon of mental health. But despite the challenges, they'll have to pull together to catch an astrologer's killer, solve a series of mysterious fatal assaults, and most importantly, clean up their desks.

A man dressed as Smoking Frog, a great Mayan war chief of over ten centuries ago, performs a brutal ritual slaying at dawn on the day of the Summer Solstice, this is the opening move of what will become a deadly chess game of intrigue, between archaeologist Nick Michaels, and a ruthless killer whose quest for an ancient artifact knows no moral boundaries. This lively trade paperback set in the exotic Mayan city of Yaxnax is chock full of action, romance, and adventure, and Nick Michaels, former PI, is a sterling hero in the tradition of Dirk Pitt .

Harry Potter is all well and good, but how about a fantasy with a young Magician that ‘s geared towards adults and their issues and concerns? Quentin Coldwater is a melancholy high school student whose only real joy in life comes from re-reading a series of books set in a land called Fillory. One winter day he stumbles through a portal in a Brooklyn alley that transports him to the grounds of Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy and now his life really begins. Grossman has constructed a tale with a unique perspective on the meaning and significance of magic in the modern world. This best-selling novel is generating lots of buzz.

This third Bangkok thriller featuring American expat Poke Rafferty finds the travel writer turned detective entangled in a complicated situation that could only happen in an exotic land where paradoxes and contradictions are the order of the day. Rafferty wins an unexpected prize in a late-night poker game, the chance to write the biography of a billionaire who has overcome a shady past to become a controversial political player. But it quickly turns into a situation where Rafferty and his family become pawns in a dangerous power struggle. This is a world where youth and innocence are commodities to be exploited for profit by those in positions of power where little is stable and nothing is certain.

Left speechless as the result of a childhood trauma at the age of eight, Michael now eighteen is a young man with two special talents. He creates graphic novels and he can defeat any kind of lock device. The former skill attracts a special girl but the latter ability leads him into partnership with some less than honorable business partners.  This stand-alone thriller from the Edgar winning writer of the Alex McKnight series is a first person narrative that draws you in from the first page as Michael shares with us, in the only way he can, his challenging odyssey to exhume the secret that has kept him silent so long. This is a fresh and original tale that is offbeat and fascinating.

The little town of Maggody, Arkansas boasts a total population of 755 is holding its first charity golf tournament. The announcement of the awarding of a $40,000 bass boat to the first player to score a hole-in-one sets off a frenzy of activity with everyone in town trying to learn the game.   When braggart Tommy Ridner achieves that coveted goal on the first day of the tournament it prompts someone in town to bash Tommy’s head in with a golf club. This brutal act presents pregnant police chief Arly Hanks with a messy and complicated case of homicide with practically the whole town qualifying as prime suspects. This long-running cozy series purrs along like a well-tended racecar, never stalling or spinning out as it heads for the checkered flag.

Haley Randolph is working at Holt’s Department Store in L. A. to ease the debt she’s accumulated building her handbag collection. She is also involved in a quasi-romantic relationship with Holt’s owner, Ty Cameron. A fashion luncheon goes horribly wrong when Ty’s ex-girlfriend is found dead in the ladies lounge. Death was by poisoning and Haley finds herself in an uncomfortable situation as she filled in for an ailing server. Worse yet, she gave the victim fruit from her mother’s new venture, Edible Elegance. Haley is in a race to unravel the truth before the police figure out who the “new” server was. This lively second effort, following Handbags and Homicide, will appeal to fashion fans everywhere.

Retired Marine sniper, Bob Lee Swagger is asked by his friend FBI agent Nick Memphis to employ his unique and special expertise to uncover who’s responsible for a series of killings targeting ‘60s peaceniks. Swagger’s quest for the truth plunges him into a situation where skill, intelligence, and marksmanship will be required if evil is to be thwarted and the reputation of former war hero is to be salvaged. Stephen Hunter is in fine form in this outing that delves into the darkest corners of the sniper world and the clever subterfuges utilized to tarnish a man’s honor. This latest bullet-filled opus will please his legion of fans and will certainly gain him some new ones.

After a year of slacking off, Webster Gilmore takes a job with Clean Team, a crew that goes to the locations of the recently deceased to gather, scrub and bag the remains of messy tragedies. At one such scene, a bloody suicide in Malibu, he flirts with the victim’s beautiful daughter, Soledad. Soon after, he gets a phone call from her asking him to help her half-brother who’s in trouble and needs help cleaning up another big mess. Charlie Huston mixes the ultimate modern crime cocktail with edgy characters, gripping violence, black comedy, and cutting dialogue.

It’s the summer of 2010, and the world is facing yet another devastating challenge as 10 percent of the people are infected with SLP—a plague of sleeplessness that condemns the victims to a fugue like state that leads ultimately to a painful death after about one year. Parker Haas is an LAPD cop whose wife has fallen prey to the disease, and who worries about the fate of his infant daughter. As the fabric of social order strains and frays all around him, Parker relentlessly continues an undercover probe of those involved with Dreamer a black market drug that alleviates the suffering but does not cure the disease. Science fiction, crime, and suspense are all blended seamlessly together in this thought provoking work that transcends genre classifications creating a powerful and haunting literary experience that is a testament to the strength and endurance of the human spirit.

Ex-anchorwoman Ali Reynolds finds herself in the midst of more than just a house renovation when the project is interrupted by a brutal murder. When the unfaithful wife of Ali’s contractor, Bryan Forester, is killed in her own front yard, no one is surprised when the police decide that the prime suspect is Bryan. But Bryan swears he didn’t do it and Ali believes him. However no one else does, including Ali’s boyfriend, homicide detective Dave Holman. As Ali tries to prove Bryan’s innocence, she finds herself at odds with Dave and unwittingly attracting the attention of a ruthless serial killer, a man who specializes in cyber hide and seek. Now he’s “it” and Ali Reynolds is next on his list. J.A. Jance is a New York Times best selling author.

Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire doesn’t believe the murder confession of Mary Barsad.

Her husband, Wade, locked his wife’s horses in the barn and then deliberately burned them alive, motivating her to place six bullets in his head. Or at least that’s the story every body’s telling. Longmire goes undercover as an insurance investigator and finds that Wade had a lot of folks who might have had an interest in terminating his life. Walt’s poking and prodding into the dark corners of the town’s history unearth some dangerous secrets.

Cece Caruso, vintage clothing enthusiast and mystery biographer, is working frantically to complete her project on Alfred Hitchcock. Upon returning home from a screening of Vertigo, she finds a hot pink cell phone in her purse that is an identical twin to her own. Cece tries to return the phone, which belongs to a stranger named Anita Colby who ends up murdered. Because she left a rambling, incoherent message on Anita’s answering machine prior to her demise, Cece finds herself under suspicion. To clear her name and find the real murderer, she goes on the lam. Ironically, this embroils her in a series of twists and turns very much like a lost classic film directed by the portly Master of the Macabre. Cece is as delightful as ever in another first-rate entry in this witty and engaging mystery series.

Ben Collier returns home after serving in the Signal Corps in Europe at the end of WWII. He arrives in California only to be told by his sister-in-law that his film director brother died after a fall from a hotel window. The central question, was it an accident or murder? To find out Ben enters into the studio system at that moment in time when the Red Scare was beginning to gather steam bringing everyone in Hollywood under its dark shadow.  Kanon has produced a sharply realized and sensitive novel exposing the political intrigues that ate like a cancer into the very fabric of the entertainment industry. With Graham Greene gone and John Le Carre in the twilight of his career, it is reassuring to have Joseph Kanon on the scene.

LAPD detective Milo Sturgis is called in to investigate the murder of a couple found dead in a half-built mansion located in an exclusive L. A. neighborhood. The two lovers were left locked in a post-mortem embrace marking this as a fierce crime of passion. The male victim was a prominent eco-friendly architect who was also a notorious Casanova. The woman found with him is an unknown victim. Milo with the help of his friend child psychologist/amateur detective Alex Delaware pursues the evidence that leads to a growing list of suspects that ultimately places them in the path of a predator’s homicidal rage. Longtime fans of the series will enjoy the change of pace where Milo takes center stage and Alex provides the supporting role in this solid and highly satisfying police procedural. (Oct.)

 The year is 1950. Former Berlin Homicide detective Bernie Gunther seeks asylum in Buenos Aires. He is approached by Colonel Montalban to aid in the investigation of the brutal slaying of a 15-year-old girl. Montalban is aware of the similarities of this crime to two cases that Gunther worked in Berlin in 1932. Another girl disappears and Gunther is forced to interrogate members of the exiled German community resulting in his uncovering of a deadly secret.

The author of The Historian has written another novel about the power of obsession. Andrew Marlowe is a psychiatrist who also is a student of painting. When famous artist Robert Oliver attacks a painting in the National Gallery of Art, he becomes a patient at Marlowe’s clinic. Desperate to understand what could have caused such a shocking act, Marlowe seeks out the women closest to Oliver to unearth a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. This sweeping novel about life and love is poised to be another stellar success from the brilliant Yale graduate.

Minneapolis TV reporter Riley Spartz sees a want-ad which reads, “Wedding Dress for Sale. Never Worn”. Riley senses this could be an interesting human-interest piece sparking good ratings so she undertakes an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the groom. Classic “cold feet” syndrome seems very unlikely since the bride-to-be is quite wealthy. The more time that passes and the deeper Riley probes, the odder this story gets, eventually leading to murder.  This is a mystery with an emphasis on humor and Kramer has written a well-conceived and executed tale of mayhem. Janet Evanovich, watch your back!

Flying over the Wyoming Rockies, a charter plane disappears without a trace.  One of the passengers aboard the missing flight was Jo O’Connor on her way to participate in the annual conference of the National Congress of American Indians.  PI Cork O’Connor and his son Stephen fly to Casper to work with the local authorities in what turns out to be a fruitless search for the downed plane.  Once Cork starts to dig into the case he runs into deadly resistance. Krueger, who is master of realistic characterizations, has crafted an involving work that touches our deepest fear, the loss of the thing we love most.