So Much to Talk About

The Penguin Random House website lists four stops on Alison Gaylin's tour promoting her second Sunny Randall sequel. Visit the links for further details on each signing and to preorder copies: Monday, September 9, 7:15 P.M., The Poisoned Pen Bookstore , 4014 N. Goldwater Blvd. #101, Scottsdale, AZ Wednesday, September 11, 7:00 P.M., St. Louis County Library - Clark Family Branch , 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO Saturday, September 14, 1:00 P.M., The Golden Notebook Bookstore presents Alison in conversation with Wendy Corsi Staub at Nancy's Artisanal Creamery, 297 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY Thursday, September 19, 6:00 P.M., The Mysterious Bookshop , 58 Warren Street, New York, NY Here's my advance review of Robert B. Parker's Buzz Kill . Want to chat further? Join Fans of Robert B. Parker , my public Matrix room.

The discovery of a dead body strewn with photos of murder victims and placed atop $2 million cash incites the next Jesse Stone sequel, Robert B. Parker's Buried Secrets . Art: Monica Cordova Design: Lisa Amoroso Following Mike Lupica's 2020–'22 run, Christopher Farnsworth takes up Stone as the author of two thriller series with horror and paranormal elements: Nathaniel Cade, undead U.S. Secret Service agent; and John Smith, psychic CIA operative gone private. Like Lupica, he's written with James Patterson (the 2017 BookShots thriller Dead Man Running ). He also wrote the 2017 tie-in comics 24: Legacy: Rules of Engagement , the 2015 Fountain of Youth thriller The Eternal World , and the 2022 horror novel Reunion . Now in his early fifties, he's been a Parker reader since high school. Revealing the Buried Secrets cover in a LinkedIn post , he wrote, "I'm immensely proud to contribute to the Parker legacy." Want to chat further? Join Fans of Rober

Lupica's second Spenser sees our hero investigate when high-powered attorney Rita Fiore is shot. Evoking Parker's Small Vices (1997) and Cold Service (2005), which saw Spenser and Hawk gunned down respectively, Lupica imperils Rita to shock readers, but also to honor and increase her standing in the Parker canon. Book design by Katy Riegel An interviewer once asked Parker's widow Joan how she felt Ace Atkins would fare writing Spenser. She answered that Atkins' voice would become part of Spenser's. She and Putnam didn't wish Atkins leave himself out and strictly mimic Parker. In the same way, Lupica's voice blends better with Spenser's in Hot Property than in 2023's Broken Trust . Hot Property benefits, too, from Lupica's time writing Rita's old flame Jesse Stone, as Spenser and Stone call on each other. Thanks again to Putnam Books for the NetGalley. Robert B. Parker's Hot Property goes on sale November 26. Want to chat furth

In her second Sunny Randall sequel, Gaylin turns the spotlight on the powerful Welch family. When poor little rich kid Dylan Welch goes missing, Sunny passes up the case until Dylan's mother Lydia makes a personal plea and pays her an ungodly sum. From the first chapter, Gaylin's writing sounds more like Parker's, but there's more plot continuity between books than Parker typically featured. The plot is also more deceptive and intricate than quintessential Parker. The novel is the right mix of familiar and new to keep things interesting. Robert B. Parker's Buzz Kill goes on sale September 10. Thanks again to Putnam Books for the NetGalley. Want to chat further? Join Fans of Robert B. Parker , my public Matrix room.

Debuted last year as side characters in Gaylin's first Sunny Randall, the powerful Welch family—Bill, Lydia, and their son Dylan—are at the center of her second . Bill and Lydia hire Sunny when Dylan goes missing. Robert Parker's series became more one-off adventures, less related as he aged. I'm glad to see Gaylin revisit the Welches while potential is high and interest is hot. Read my advance review . Want to chat further? Join Fans of Robert B. Parker , my public Matrix room.

According to the Penguin Random House website, Mike Lupica's second Spenser sees our hero investigate when high-powered attorney Rita Fiore is shot. Book design by Katy Riegel The synopsis makes Rita sound more important to Spenser than she is. Debuting in the novels a few years before TV's Spenser: For Hire , Rita was written into the show's second season as a love interest played by Carolyn McCormick after Susan Silverman actor Barbara Stock was let go. The change backfired. Stock was rehired for the following final season, McCormick and Rita forgotten. Canonically Spenser admires Rita but has only ever rebuffed her advances. While her taking a bullet might've made a better fiftieth anniversary mark than last year's Robert B. Parker's Broken Trust , it would hit harder as the hook of a Jesse Stone novel, she and Jesse former sex partners. Want to chat further? Join my public Matrix room Fans of Robert B. Parker .