So Much to Talk About

In 1937, targeted by American fascist William Dudley Pelley, Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin scramble to foil Pelley's plot to assassinate twenty celebrities and touch off insurrection. Cover design by Anya Blue Extrapolating from a true meeting of Einstein and Chaplin at a 1931 movie premiere, mingling historical figures and fictional characters, Paul Levine spins a tale both faithful to the past and relevant to the present. A longtime fan of his legal thrillers and screenwriting, I'm glad to see after retiring his best-known hero Jake Lassiter in 2023's Early Grave , Levine is back broaching sensitive subject matter with compelling storytelling and heartening courage. Midnight Burning goes on sale September 16. Thanks again to publicist Wiley Saichek for the review copy.

Since leaving Twitter in March 2023, I'd been on Mastodon alone until today, coincidentally the first anniversary of Bluesky's public rollout. Mastodon has all the features I want, but I'd feel guilty taking up moderators' limited resources promoting projects and chatting. So, promo and chat @sogerald.bsky.social , writerly tags @sogerald@masto.ai .

Gaylin's third Sunny Randall further explores the Internet and influencers, finding Sunny's benefactor Melanie Joan Hall skewered by popular anonymous reviewer Book Babe. Mike Lupica's fourth and final Randall, Robert B. Parker's Revenge Tour , also jeopardized Melanie Joan, but I'm confident Gaylin's novel will be as different as her style and themes are from Lupica's.

As posted on the Penguin Random House website, Christopher Farnsworth's four-stop tour for his first Jesse Stone novel runs as follows: Art: Monica Cordova Design: Lisa Amoroso Wednesday, February 5, 6:30 PM, Diesel , 225 26th Street Suite 33, Santa Monica, CA 90402 Thursday, February 6, 6:30 PM, Murder By the Book , 2342 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77005 Friday, February 7, 6:00 PM, The Poisoned Pen Bookstore , 4014 N. Goldwater Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ 85251 Thursday, February 13, 7:00 PM, Virtual Event: Massachusetts Public Libraries via Zoom Want to chat further? Join Fans of Robert B. Parker , my public Matrix room.

I missed promoting Mike Lupica's tour for his second Spenser novel, Robert B. Parker's Hot Property , due to a family health concern detailed on my personal blog . Embedded below, though, is The Poisoned Pen Bookstore's video of Lupica's November 25, 2024 virtual discussion with Barbara Peters: 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 Jesse Stone sequel Robert B. Parker's Buried Secrets . Art: Monica Cordova Design: Lisa Amoroso As fans expect of Parker continuation authors, Farnsworth 's prose flows. Setting up a plot of mob men coming to Paradise after the evidence and money, he also has Chief Stone bring aboard tarnished young cop Derek Tate, whose past reminds Jesse of his own. Jesse's eagerness to give Tate a fair shot at redemption gets him grief at work and in town. As familiar as Jesse Stone's viewpoint is, I'm most impressed that Farnsworth leaves it often enough to flesh out Tate and the mob men and widen the range of the action. I look forward to his next entry. Thanks to Putnam Books for the NetGalley. Robert B. Parker's Buried Secrets will be published February 4, 2025. Want to chat further? Join Fans of Robert B. Parker , my public Matrix room.