News

A Star For The Given Day

2008-07-02T15:49:00.003-04:00

We're very excited to share that Dennis Lehane's forthcoming novel, THE GIVEN DAY, has already received its first (of what we certainly hope will be many) starred review!

The full text from Publishers Weekly is below:

In a splendid flowering of the talent previously demonstrated in his crime fiction (Gone, Baby, Gone; Mystic River), Lehane combines 20th-century American history, a gripping story of a family torn by pride and the strictures of the Catholic Church, and the plot of a multifaceted thriller. Set in Boston during and after WWI, this engrossing epic brings alive a pivotal period in our cultural maturation through a pulsing narrative that exposes social turmoil, political chicanery and racial prejudice, and encompasses the Spanish flu pandemic, the Boston police strike of 1919 and red-baiting and anti-union violence.

Danny Coughlin, son of police captain Thomas Coughlin, is a devoted young beat cop in Boston's teeming North End. Anxious to prove himself worthy of his legendary father, he agrees to go undercover to infiltrate the Bolsheviks and anarchists who are recruiting the city's poverty-stricken immigrants. He gradually finds himself sympathetic to those living in similar conditions to his fellow policemen, who earn wages well below the poverty line, work in filthy, rat-infested headquarters, are made to pay for their own uniforms and are not compensated for overtime. Danny also rebels by falling in love with the family's spunky Irish immigrant maid, a woman with a past. Danny's counterpart in alienation is Luther Laurence, a spirited black man first encountered in the prologue when Babe Ruth sees him playing softball in Ohio. After Luther kills a man in Tulsa, he flees to Boston, where he becomes intertwined with Danny's family.

This story of fathers and sons, love and betrayal, idealism and injustice, prejudice and brotherly feeling is a dark vision of the brutality inherent in human nature and the dire fate of some who try to live by ethical standards. It's also a vision of redemption and a triumph of the human spirit. In short, this nail-biter carries serious moral gravity.

EW Picks Mystic River As A New Classic

2008-06-24T15:48:00.002-04:00

Entertainment Weekly recently published a list of the 100 best books published between 1938 and 2008, and we are thrilled to report that Dennis Lehane's MYSTIC RIVER was #6!

Kirkus Calls Hermann "A Young Author To Watch"

2008-06-04T14:56:00.004-04:00

Kirkus gave Nellie Hermann's debut novel, THE CURE FOR GRIEF, such a lovely starred (!) review, we've reprinted it in full below:

A subtle, elegiac coming-of-age novel about catastrophe, grief and the persistence of everyday life.

In her stunning debut, Hermann explores the long-term ramifications of unassimilable tragedy in the life of young Ruby Bronstein. Ruby’s father is a Holocaust survivor who cannot remember most of his own childhood; as a young girl she is haunted by the contrast between her family's warmth and closeness and her father's silences and occasional withdrawal. Hermann approaches the familiar subject of the Holocaust and its legacies in a completely unexpected and original way, inflicting on her protagonist a series of tragedies that give readers the barest taste of what it means to face and survive unimaginable catastrophe. Early on, Ruby goes with her parents to the prison camp where her father was interred. The events and epiphanies of this sequence might be the crux of another novel, but instead, the trip is the last moment in Ruby's life before she begins to lose one family member after another to madness and illness. The uncanny repetition of these traumas could easily have strayed into the territory of melodrama, but Hermann's spare, taut prose strips the story of any sentimentality even as it tensely mirrors Ruby's tamped-down emotions. The potential for melodrama is further mediated by the novel's rigorous structure. A series of compressed episodes, any one of which could stand on its own as a short story, chronicle Ruby's ordinary life as an adolescent and young woman: going to a new school, making and losing friends, experiencing her first crushes, savoring the joys of camp and the first years of college. They delicately illustrate the ways in which grief circumscribes her life and her ability to connect to those she loves, including her surviving family. The novel's resolution doesn't quite match the depth and complexity that precede it, but this is an easy fault to forgive in such a gorgeously readable meditation on mourning and survival.

Profound, poetic and original. Hermann is a young author to watch.

Meena in Sri Lanka

2008-05-30T11:16:00.002-04:00

Prabha Manuratne, an English Language lecturer at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, recently produced a Sinhalese translation of Melody Ermachild Chavis's book MEENA: HEROINE OF AFGHANISTAN.

Meena founded RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, when she was just 20, in the late 1970s. She dedicated herself to bringing healthcare and education to the women of her country. As the fundamentalist movement grew and war broke out, she stood firm for a democracy; anti-Communist, she warned that life would be worse under the Mujahedeen. Both sides considered her dangerous, and in 1987, when she was thirty, Meena was assassinated.

Sri Lanka is in the midst of a ethnic conflict that has lasted almost thirty years, so Prabha and a group of other committed activists decided to publish "a series of books that will help Sri Lankan people to rethink their situation and become more socially aware, not only of the realities of war, but also of the impact of capitalism, sexual exploitation, and violence upon countries like ours."

Because it is too dangerous to discuss their country's own political situation for fear of persecution, Prabha and her colleagues decided to let Meena's story illuminate their own. Prabha says, "As a woman, I...felt the need to assert the possibility of a political feminist tradition. Meena's character, and your book provided the inspiration and courage that is much needed in times such as these."

We're very proud to share with you some pictures from the book launch.

Blood Trail Book Tour

2008-05-16T11:52:00.015-04:00

C.J. Box hit the road to promote BLOOD TRAIL, his latest Joe Pickett novel. Catch the man in action at bookstore near you!

Tuesday, May 20th at 6:30pm
Murder by the Book
2342 Bissonnet Street
Houston, TX

Wednesday, May 21st at 7pm
Poisoned Pen
4014 N. Goldwater Boulevard, Suite 101
Scottsdale, AZ

Thursday, May 22nd at 5pm
Murder by the Book
1574 S. Pearl Street
Denver, CO

Thursday, May 22nd at 7:30pm
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO

Friday, May 23rd at 4pm
City Newsstand Bookstore & Coffee
1722 Carey Avenue
Cheyenne, WY

Friday, May 23rd at 7:30pm
Chickering Bookstore
203 2nd Street
Laramie, WY

Saturday, May 24th at 1pm
Ralph's Books
215 S. Montana Avenue
Casper, WY

Sunday, May 25th at 1pm
Cody Newsstand
1121 13th Street
Cody, WY

Monday, May 26th at 12pm
Sheridan Stationery
206 North Main Street
Sheridan, WY

Monday, May 26th at 7pm
Barnes & Noble
530 S. 24th Street West
Billings, MT

Tuesday, May 27th at 7pm
Once Upon A Crime
604 W. 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN

Wednesday, May 28th at 7:30pm
Borders
1500 16th Street
Oak Brook, IL

Thursday, May 29th at 7pm
Mystery One Bookshop
2109 N. Prospect Avenue
Milwaukee, WI

Friday, May 30th at 7:30pm
Schuler Books & Music
1982 Grand River Avenue
Okemos, MI

Saturday, May 31st at 2pm
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Circle, Suite B1
Lexington, KY

Sunday, June 1st at 6pm
Davis-Kidd Booksellers
2121 Green Hills Village Drive
The Mall at Green Hills
Nashville, TN

Monday, June 2nd at 6pm
Davis-Kidd Booksellers
387 Perkins Ext.
Memphis, TN

Tuesday, June 3rd at 7pm
Barnes & Noble
5231 East 41st Street
Tulsa, OK

Wednesday, June 4th at 7pm
Watermark Books
4701 East Douglas
Wichita, KS

Thursday, June 5th at 7pm
Barnes & Noble
Country Club Plaza
420 WEst 47th Street
Kansas City, MO

Friday, June 6th at 6pm
Bookworm
8702 Pacific Street
Omaha, NE

Blue Heaven Continues To Shine

2008-05-16T11:46:00.001-04:00

We were very pleased to find this nice review from Down Under:

The master of the regional western thriller, C.J. Box departs from his irresistible Wyoming game warden series in this new stand-alone novel. And it's as classy, elegiac and as affecting as any of those wonderful Joe Pickett stories. Two children witness a murder in North Idaho at an idyllic place called Blue Heaven, named by certain Los Angeles cops because so many of them have retired there. Sixty-three-year-old rancher Jesse Rawlins, divorced and battling to hang on to his property but still the conscience of the valley, is their unexpected saviour.
Heartbreak and redemption in a gorgeous western setting.

And it seems that The Australian isn't the only one who's keen on BLUE HEAVEN -- it's going to be a Book Sense Notable selection in June!

The Given Day Is The Given Book Of The Given Month

2008-05-16T11:33:00.004-04:00

The Book-of-the-Month Club has selected Dennis Lehane's forthcoming novel THE GIVEN DAY as a main selection in October.

The book will also be Featured Alternate Selection of History Book Club, The Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and InsightOut Book Club.

Continuing On Down The Blood Trail

2008-04-30T11:34:00.004-04:00

Library Journal joins in the praise of BLOOD TRAIL, C.J. Box's latest Joe Pickett novel: "Award-winning mystery writer Box ratchets up the suspense in this tightly plotted example of his writing genius, his eighth thriller to feature Pickett. His sense of place and talent for character development are on a par with those of James Lee Burke. Highly recommended."

Fun fact: There's a character in the book named after a certain ARLA employee -- see if you can find her!

Libby Fischer Hellmann's May and June Tour Dates

2008-04-29T11:17:00.003-04:00

If you've already bought your copy of EASY INNOCENCE and loved it, you'll be happy to know that Libby Hellmann will continue her whirlwind book tour. Check below to see if she'll be coming to your town!

May 3rd and 7pm
Lake Zurich Library
Lake Zurich, IL

May 4th from 3-6pm
Official Book Launch Party! All are welcome!
Hanson Brothers Tavern
Northbrook, IL

May 7th at 7pm
Iowa Hillel
Iowa City, IA

May 9th at 7pm
Barnes and Noble
Racine, WI

May 14th
The Book Mouse
Ottawa, IL

May 17th at 2pm
Anderson's Bookshop
Naperville, IL

May18th at 4:30pm
Women and Children First
Chicago, IL

May 20th at 7pm
Johnson County Library
Shawnee Branch
Overland Park, KS

May 21st
Topeka Public Library
Lunch and Learn: Building Suspense
Topeka, KA

May 21st at 7:30pm
The Raven Bookstore
Lawrence, KS

May 23rd-24th
Mayhem in the Midlands
Omaha, NE

May 28th at 6pm
Cheesecake and Crime Bookstore
Henderson, NV

May 31st
Book Expo America
Book signing at Bleak House Books booth
Los Angeles, CA

June 1st at 2:30pm
Sisters in Crime
Pasadena Public Library
South Pasadena, CA

June 12th at 7pm
Glenview Public Library
Glenview, IL

June 14th at 2pm
The Mystery Company
Indianapolis, IN

He's Always Been At The Top Of Our List!

2008-04-28T11:34:00.003-04:00

The London Times recently gave a rundown of the fifty greatest crime writers of all time, placing Dennis Lehane high on the list at number 11.

Here's the lovely profile of Dennis by British crime writer Simon Kernick:

There are, in my opinion, few successful writers of literary crime thrillers. Trying to create something beautiful and profound while, at the same time, keeping the reader glued to the pages and guessing to the end is an almost impossible task to achieve. Which is why I rate Dennis Lehane so highly. He has always been one of those few.
The Massachusetts-based author of eight novels, including the award-winning Mystic River, Lehane's prose may be lyrical and flowing, but there's also a real hard-edged authenticity to his stories of the Boston underworld. He has that all-too-rare capability of drawing you in from the very first page, and once you're in, he's not letting go. The characterisation is incisive; the dialogue crackles with dark humour; and the locations immediately become alive so that you feel you're walking the streets with him.
If I was to recommend a single Lehane book, it would be Gone, Baby, Gone, one of a series of five novels featuring the private detective team Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The two detectives are hired to find a young girl who has been abducted from her home while her mother was out drinking. It's a controversial subject, but from the beginning Lehane handles it with real sensitivity and, as we follow the two on their investigation, it soon becomes clear that there's far more to this abduction than meets the eye. The pace is fast, the atmosphere intense and it contains one of the finest action scenes I have yet read, a brilliant example of tension-building that should be required reading for any would-be thriller writer.

And the ending... Well, it'll leave you thinking for a very long time. And that, for a crime novel, is no bad thing.

Click here for the full list.

The Chicago Tribune Praises Easy Innocence

2008-04-08T16:09:00.002-04:00

"Hellmann knows how to distill the essence of a character in a few unadorned but dead-right sentences," the Chicago Tribune says of Libby Fisher Hellmann's new novel, EASY INNOCENCE.

Read the full review, as well as more praise, here.

LA Times On Blue Heaven Movie Deal

2008-04-04T10:49:00.003-04:00

After the recent sale of the film rights to BLUE HEAVEN to Lila 9th Productions, the LA Times spoke with CJ Box and Steve Fisher, the agent behind the deal, to get the scoop on how they sold this "smart adult thriller."

Get the scoop here.

PW Praises Nellie Hermann's Debut Novel

2008-03-26T15:45:00.003-04:00

Publishers Weekly has some very nice things to say about THE CURE FOR GRIEF, which Scribner will publish this summer:

The only girl in the strong, loving Bronstein family, nine-year-old Ruby anchors this adept debut from Hermann. Ruby has always felt both admiration for and rejected by her three charismatic older brothers; she is similarly intrigued by her Holocaust survivor father, whose observance of Jewish customs persists despite his professed loss of faith. Ruby's own sense of faith, family and self will be sorely tested over the next 10-plus years: her oldest brother Abe's schizophrenic break, a truly frightening event to 10-year-old Ruby, is but the first in a series of crises. The well-developed chapters have a tendency to read like individual stories, but Hermann keeps the novel's themes of loss and resiliency constant. Foreshadowing and symbolism get heavy, but what could have become a litany of family pain is tempered, in Hermann's eminently capable narrative, by young Ruby's concurrent journey toward self-discovery.

April Tour Dates For Libby Fischer Hellmann

2008-03-21T11:00:00.004-04:00

Bleak House Books will publish her novel EASY INNOCENCE in April, so Libby Fischer Hellmann is hittin' the road!

April 1st

Mystery Lovers Bookshop

Oakmont, PA

April 2nd, afternoon

Upper Arlington Library Tea

Upper Arlington, OH

April 2nd, evening

Foul Play Mystery Books

Westerville, OH

April 3rd at 1pm

Joseph Beth Books

Ann Arbor, MI

April 3rd, evening

Aunt Agatha's

Ann Arbor, MI

April 4th at 11am

Kazoo Books II

Kalamazoo, MI

April 4th at 6:30pm

The Book Stall

Winnetka, IL

April 5th at 10am

Mystery One

Milwaukee, WI

April 5th at 1pm

Booked for Murder

Madison, WI

April 6th at 1pm

Palatine Public Library

Palatine, IL

April 8th at 7pm

Schaumburg Public Library

Schaumburg, IL

April 10th at 7pm

Orland Park Library

Orland Park, IL

April 12th at 2pm

Peoria Public Library

Peoria, IL

April 13th

Wauconda Public Library

April 16th at 7pm

Naperville Public Library

April 19th at 2pm

Palatine Public Library

workshop on writing

April 25th at 7pm

Mysteries to Die For

Thousand Oaks, CA

April 26-27

LA Festival of the Books

Appearing at Crime Time Books/Sisters in Crime booth

LA Mystery Bookstore

Book 'Em

Mysterious Galaxy

April 28th at 1pm

Book Passage

Corta Madera, CA

April 29th at 7pm

M is for Mystery

San Mateo, CA

April 30th

Stacey's Bookstore

San Francisco, CA

Check back later for more dates in May and June!

PW Praises Blood Trail

2008-03-19T13:55:00.002-04:00

Publishers Weekly reviews C.J. Box's latest Joe Pickett novel, BLOOD TRAIL, in its current issue:

Writing beautifully about the mountain West and its people, Box takes care to present both sides of the controversial issue of hunting. The narrative alternates between the searchers and the killer, whose identity will keep readers guessing up to the surprising climax.

The full review, along with more praise, may be found here.

Chicken Soup For The Disgraced Governor's Soul

2008-03-11T15:18:00.003-04:00

We're having a hard time working today here at ARLA with the Eliot Spitzer scandal keeping us glued to every blog in town. So, in a desperate attempt to keep things literary, we've come up with a gift basket of books to soothe Governor Spitzer's soul:

Eliot's COLLECTED POEMS
SERILDA'S* STAR, by Olive Cook
O ALBANY!, by William Kennedy
THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN, by Claire Messud
THE CLIENT, by John Grisham
MAYFLOWER, by Nathaniel Philbrick
KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER, by Sigrid Undset
and (anticipating his resignation)
PATERSON, by William Carlos Williams

(* "Silda" is a version of the German name "Serilda")

Better Renew Your Membership!

2008-03-10T13:09:00.002-04:00

The Book of the Month club has chosen Nellie Hermann's THE CURE FOR GRIEF (coming this summer from Scribner) as an alternate selection for its August catalogue.

Lehane On NPR Weekend Edition

2008-03-06T17:22:00.002-05:00

This Saturday, Dennis Lehane will speak with Scott Simon on NPR's Weekend Edition about "The Wire." Dennis is a writer for the show and is responsible for some of our favorite episodes. Check your local stations for details!

Publishers Weekly Gives Blue Heaven Another Star

2008-02-28T10:30:00.002-05:00

Publishers Weekly gives a star to the audio version of C.J.Box's bestselling thriller, BLUE HEAVEN:

John Bedford Lloyd's rich, distinctive voice brings a strong sense of power to his reading of Box's first stand- alone thriller. In the rural Idaho town of Kootenai Bay, 12-year-old Annie Taylor and her younger brother, William, witness a brutal murder. Immediately the two find themselves being hunted by killers who will stop at nothing to ensure the children's silence. The two find refuge with an old rancher, Jess Rawlins, and recently retired police detective Eduardo Villatoro. Together, the two men make a desperate stand against the murderers despite being outnumbered and outgunned. Lloyd's crisp, laconic delivery easily handles a multitude of characters, accents and shifting points of view, creating just the right tone for the material and drawing the listener deep into the action of the story. He portrays his villains (a band of dirty ex-cops) with just the right amount of ruthless menace without going overboard, and he perfectly captures the essence of the aging rancher, imbuing him with the quiet strength and dignity of an iconic western hero. Simultaneous release with the St. Martin's Minotaur hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 15). (Jan.)

Making It Look Easy

2008-02-25T17:14:00.005-05:00

EASY INNOCENCE by Libby Fischer Hellmann doesn't come out until April but it's already received it's first starred review!

Library Journal praises it by saying, "Hellmann brings to life the reality of hazing and bullying among teenage girls in a story with enough twists and turns to keep you reading to the end. Highly recommended."

Kirkus Praises Easy Innocence

2008-02-19T16:33:00.002-05:00

Kirkus Reviews called EASY INNOCENCE, Libby Fischer Hellmann's newest mystery, "just what is needed in a mystery," adding, "Depth of characterization sets this new entry apart from a crowded field."

Bleak House Books will publish the book in April.

More News and Reviews For Blue Heaven

2008-02-19T14:21:00.002-05:00

The Omaha World-Herald calls C.J. Box's BLUE HEAVEN "a first-rate, edge-of-your seat read" and the Toronto Sun says it's "hard to put down."

Oh, and it's #7 on the Denver Post best seller list!

Libby Fischer Hellmann On Tour

2008-02-18T12:22:00.002-05:00

Bleak House Books will publish Libby Fischer Hellmann's novel EASY INNOCENCE this spring. To celebrate, Libby will embark on an extensive book tour. Check out the list of appearances below to see if she's coming to a town near you!

February 21 at 7pm

Oak Park Main Library

Oak Park, IL

March 7 at 1pm

Colorado Springs Library

Colorado Springs, CO

March 7 at 5:30pm

Murder by the Book

Denver, CO

March 8 at 8:30am

Left Coast Crime

Panel: "He Writes / She Writes"

Denver, CO

March 10 at 3:30pm

Connections Cafe at the Tempe Public Library

"An Afternoon of Mystery" with Cara Black

Tempe, AZ

March 10 at 7pm

Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Scottsdale, AZ

March 11 at 6pm

Desert Foothills Library

Cave Creek, AZ

March 19 at 7pm

Fremont Public Library

Mundelein, IL

March 26 at 4:30pm

Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour at The Dock Cafe

Stillwater, MN

March 27, 11am - 1pm

Public Library Association National Conference

Sisters in Crime Booth

Minneapolis, MN

March 29 at 4pm

Virginia Festival of the Book

Panel: Crime Wave: Life on the Streets with Cops and PIs

Charlottesville, VA

March 31 at 5pm

Pikesville Public Library

Pikesville, MD

Check back here later for many more appearances in April, May, and June!

C.J. Box Is Red Hot, Says Booklist!

2008-02-01T15:41:00.000-05:00

While BLUE HEAVEN continues to shine on the New York Times best seller list, BLOOD TRAIL, C.J. Box's latest Joe Pickett book, has already gotten its first starred review from Booklist:

In January, Box branched out from his popular Joe Pickett series with a stand-alone thriller, Blue Heaven (2008). His publisher for that book seems to be pushing him toward a broader audience—even ditching his familiar black Stetson in the author photo. Longtime fans might have wondered whether Pickett would soon be an also-ran. But there’s no need to worry just yet. Although Blood Trail is a mite slimmer than its predecessors (two books a year will do that to a writer), Box is clearly still comfortable in the saddle. And his game warden—now a special agent reporting directly to the governor—is still as dogged on the trail as he is hard on government-issued vehicles. There’s a little less family time for Joe, but there are some interesting developments in his friendship with the enigmatic Nate Romanowski. Joe needs Nate’s help and some luck besides, because it’s elk season, and someone is hunting elk hunters. And with a flamboyant anti-hunting activist coming to town with his supporters, it’s looking like another classic standoff: implacable ideologues on both sides and a pondering Pickett caught in the middle. Box always addresses a New West issue, but there’s something great about the way he’s waited until the eighth installment to tackle the one that would seem most obvious, given his hero’s occupation. We prefer Box with the cowboy hat, but whether hatted or bareheaded, he continues to be red hot—and now there’s twice as much of him to go around.

Three More Great Reviews For Blue Heaven

2008-01-28T13:03:00.000-05:00

As BLUE HEAVEN remains on the New York Time extended best seller list for another week, the good reviews just keep coming.

The Boston Globe says, "Against a backdrop of wilderness, rich with the scent of pine and cattle, there are strong elements of classic tragedy here as well, as yearning propels all of the characters, good and bad, into mortal peril. 'Blue Heaven' is my favorite kind of thriller - one with a heart."

More praise from the Charlotte Observer:

C.J. Box has stepped outside the world of Joe Pickett, the star of his highly acclaimed mystery series, to pen a stand-alone thriller that will grab you on page one. I suggest you make sure you have time to finish this one before you need much sleep again.
In this novel, you are rarely sure just whom to trust. Box proves again that he is a master storyteller who can use suspense to deal with such issues as greed, corruption and the clash between the modern world and traditional values.

The Billings Gazette weighs in:

Box excels in capturing the personalities and lifestyles of the inland Northwest. He also masterfully peels away the layers of lives to reveal secrets that influence folks' decisions across decades.

Fans of Joe Pickett will find the tortured good-guy values in Rawlins, too. And the added focus of the children struggling just to get home and erase the dangers makes the stakes higher.

It's four days of high tension and high action. And Box delivers surprises until the final page.

Click here for the full reviews.