Killer Party Time!

Thursday, March 11, at 7:00 PM, MG hosts a multiple-mystery author bash, which draws its Killer Party theme from the first book in a new series by award-winning mystery and how-to author Penny Warner, How to Host a Killer Party. San Francisco party planner Presley Parker, recently downsized from her teaching job, is trying to launch her event coordination business, Killer Parties. When she is offered the mayor’s nuptials / fundraiser gig on Alcatraz, it seems like a great way to get her new business noticed. However, when the originally designated party planner is murdered and Presley is the main suspect, it’s not the kind of attention she was seeking. Penny will bring along some party favors to share with attendees, and the book contains party planning tips at the beginning of each chapter.

Multiple-award winner Rhys Bowen will present The Last Illusion, the ninth Molly Murphy mystery, at the Killer Party with a flourish. The unconventional turn of the century private eye and her police officer fiancé are attending a magic show in the Bowery when a stage illusion takes a sudden and fatal turn. Molly is brought in to help prove the famous Harry Houdini’s innocence in either sabotaging his stage rival’s equipment, or having a hand in the magician’s mysterious disappearance. Rhys also offers this teaser: the 10th in this series is titled Bless the Bride. Can it be that Molly is finally going to get married? Rhys’s most recent Royal Spyness title, Royal Flush, has been nominated for an Agatha Award for the Best Novel. Rhys joins her fellow party authors on Thursday, March 11, at 7:00 PM. 

In a recent interview, Margaret Grace, AKA Camille Minichino, observed: “Imagining common objects as furnishings for a dollhouse is a different way of viewing the world,’ she said, ‘but so is observing the world from a scientific perspective.’  As readers of her earlier mysteries know, she has a doctorate in physics. One of her favorite topics is how miniatures and physics are both models of the world. Her amateur detective, Gerry Porter, shares her passion for making dollhouses, and solving murders, sometimes assisted by her granddaughter. Both Gerry and Maddie are on the case at a class reunion in Mourning in Miniature. Margaret will share tips and treats with readers at the event on Thursday, March 11, at 7:00 PM. Next up, in April: Monster in Miniature, with a Hallowe’en-themed haunted dollhouse. 

In Diana Orgain’s Maternal Instincts Mystery Series, child development is juxtaposed with Kate Connolly’s development as a sleuth. Kate debuted in Bundle of Trouble, in which she had to balance the needs of a six-week old baby with the need to investigate murders with family ties. In Motherhood is Murder, Kate and her husband are enjoying a rare adult outing on a cruise with other members of Kate’s first-time-mom’s club, when one of her fellow members falls victim to foul play. Diana will bring notebooks to share with attendees at the event, and discuss the traits that sleuthing, writing a novel, and new motherhood have in common on Thursday, March 11, at 7:00 PM.

How to Host a Killer Party (Mass Market Paperback)

By Penny Warner

$6.99

ISBN-13: 9780451229304
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Signet, 02/01/2010

Don't let murder crash your party.

Presley Parker was just happy to get her party planning business
off the ground. Now she's gotten the gig of the year, planning Mayor
Davin Green's sumptuous "surprise" wedding for his socialite fiancée,
to be held on Alcatraz.

But when the bride is found floating in the bay and the original
party planner is found murdered, Presley becomes the prime suspect. If
the attractive crime scene cleaner, Brad Matthews, doesn't help her
tidy her reputation, she'll be exchanging her formal wear for prison
stripes...

---

The Last Illusion (Hardcover)

By Rhys Bowen

$24.99

ISBN-13: 9780312385408
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Minotaur Books, 03/01/2010

Irish immigrant and PI Molly Murphy is thrilled to have a ticket to the theater to see a trio of illusionists that are all the rage. Indeed, headlining is Harry Houdini, the most sensational of them all; he has just returned from entertaining European kings and queens for a brief run on Broadway.

But before Houdini can even take the stage, the opening act goes horribly wrong and to the crowd’s shock the illusionist saws into his assistant. In the aftermath, the stunned performer accuses Houdini of tampering with the equipment he keeps under lock and key. And he’s not the only one critical of “The King of Handcuffs.” Risking his life every night, Houdini has raised the stakes to such a perilous level that he’s putting lesser acts out of business.

With everyone on edge, Houdini’s wife hires Molly to be part investigator/part bodyguard, but how can she protect a man who literally risks his life every night? And how is she going to uncover whether these masters of illusion are simply up to their tricks or if there truly is something much more treacherous going on.

With sparkling wit, charming characters, and historic detail, multiple award winner Rhys Bowen brings early-twentieth-century New York City and the fantastic performers of the time vividly to life in The Last Illusion.

---

Motherhood is Murder (Mass Market Paperback)

By Diana Orgain

$6.99

ISBN-13: 9780425233733
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Berkley, 03/01/2010

The author of Bundle of Trouble delivers a new Maternal Instincts mystery.

Nights out are hard to come by for new mommy Kate Connelly. So when Kate and her husband are invited to a dinner cruise hosted by her new mommy club, Roo & You, they jump at it. But when the president of the club takes a deadly spill, everyone becomes suspect-and Kate's on deck to solve the mystery.

---

Mourning In Miniature (Mass Market Paperback)

By Margaret Grace

$7.99

ISBN-13: 9780425230800
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Berkley, 10/01/2009

Miniaturist Gerry Porter has been looking forward to her thirtieth high school reunion. But when a former athlete is murdered, Gerry must employ all her skills to reconstruct the scene of the crime.

---