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Our just about weekly email--special Edgar Award edition

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Dear %%First Name%%,

This week's special--lives of the rich and homicidal in the Hamptons

We've got a comic mystery for This Week's Special. Set in the Hamptons, the protagonist is a realtor who has the misfortune to find a dead body during a showing. Save 20% and get free shipping on This Week's Special, a perfect antidote to winter weather.

Edgar Award nominees include local writer

The Mystery Writers of America have announced their nominees for the 2010 Edgar Awards and we're pleased to say that Pittsburgh's own Kathleen George has been nominated in the category of Best Mystery Novel for her most recent Pittsburgh-set mystery, The Odds.

Kathy's series is set on the North Side where she lives and features an ensemble group of cops who first appeared in Taken. The Odds is the fourth book in this series.

Another friend of MLB who was nominated was Hallie Ephron who received a Mary Higgins Clark Award nomination for Never Tell a Lie.

The winners of the 2010 Edgar Awards will be announced at a banquet on April 29. Of course, we'll be there picking up our Raven award.

MLB launches new morning book club

We're pleased to announce the formation of a new book club at MLB, the Wednesday A.M. Book Club. The group will meet at MLB on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 10 am. The group will be reading and discussing books in a variety of genres including fiction, mystery, history, biography and others.

The first meeting will be on Wednesday, February 10 and the book is Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Please contact us via email or phone (412-828-4877) if you are interested in joining the group. Membership is open to any interested reader.

We sponsor seven book clubs at MLB. If you're interested please check our the complete listing on our website of bookclubs, schedules and books.

Robert B. Parker dead at 77

We were saddened to learn of the death earlier this week of one of the giants of modern American crime writing--Robert B. Parker.

A long-time admirer of Raymond Chandler, Parker launched his own writing career with The Godwulf Manuscript in 1973 and set his Boston PI Spenser on an entertaining journey through 37 books up through last year.

Parker was also responsible for three other series that featured Sunny Randall, another Boston PI, Jesse Stone, the chief of police in a small town, and Everett Hitch, a western hero who appeared in 4 books.

You'll find a complete list of Parker's books on our website.

There is quite a nice obit in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by book critic Bob Hoover.

Mystery Lovers Night at City Theater January 26

If you’re looking for the best mystery book or jigsaw puzzle in the Pittsburgh area, everyone knows you go to the award-winning Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont.

It follows as night the day, therefore, that the murder mystery and puzzle within The Clockmaker, coming to the City Theater, is another must stop.

January 26, 2010 is Mystery Lovers Night at City Theater for the 7PM performance of the U.S. premier of:

The Clockmaker
By Stephen Massicotte
directed by Tracy Brigden
When Frieda brings Heinrich her husband's beloved cuckoo clock to be repaired, they embark on a madcap race against time to solve a mysterious puzzle. Part comic love story, part murder mystery, The Clockmaker was called "charming" and "a delightful shock" by Canada's Globe and Mail.  City Theatre presents the U.S. premiere of the newest play by the author of last season's hit, Mary's Wedding.

Call the City Theater box office, buy one regularly priced ticket and get the second half off. Just mention Mystery Lovers Bookshop when purchasing your ticket. Meet us in the lobby before the play.

1300 Bingham Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203-1500
(412) 431-2489

What our customers are reading - MLB Best Sellers

Up on the webiste you'll find our December MLB Best Sellers along with the Best Sellers of 2009.

Naturally, our December Best Sellers were dominated by sales for the holidays. Signed copies of Sue Grafton's U is for Undertow led the hardcover sales. We have only a couple of these left. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the conclusion to Stieg Larsson's best-selling trilogy, stayed on the list. This British import has been a hot item since its publication in October. Lisa Scottoline hit the list with her collection of humorous columns, Why My Third Husband Will be a Dog.

Paperback's in December featured two books with local connections: Names of Pittsburgh and Paris of Appalachia by Brian O'Neill. Sandwiched inbetween was The Trader Joe's Companion: a Portable Cookbook which we couldn't keep in stock all through the holidays. Christmas mysteries took their share of spots as well including Donna Andrews's Six Geese a Slaying and Rita Mae Brown's Santa Clawed.

For the year 2009, Lisa Scottoline was the undisputed champion of hardcover sales with Look Again. Lisa will be back at MLB on March 23 to work her magic at an event to be held at the Oakmont Carnegie Library. Former Pittsburgher Jeffrey Siger also took a spot on the list along with MLB favorite Diane Davidson.

Pittsburgher Kathy Haines got all three of her Rosie Winter books onto the list for trade paperbacks. Hank Phillippi Ryan also put all three of her Charlotte McNally books on the list through a virtual signing program that she marketed aggresively.

Several authors from the Festival of Mystery posted books on the Best Sellers of 2009 including Kimberly Frost, Lorna Barrett, Louise Penny, Judi McCoy and Elaine Viets.

Be sure to take a look at our Best Sellers for December as well as our Best Sellers for 2009. You're sure to find some interesting reading.

We're on Facebook, become a fan (299 already are)

Finally, we've put a profile up on Facebook for Mystery Lovers Bookshop. Nows the time for all you Facebook folks out there to demonstrate the power of social networking by becoming a fan of MLB. If you do, it will be another way for us to stay in touch.

We'll be using Facebook to notify fans about events in the store and perhaps to make special deals available only to fans.

All of our upcoming events are also listed and we would love for customers to post comments or photos about events that they attend.

New Arrivals

We received quite a number of New Arrivals since our last Newsletter. You will find new titles by Lindsey Davis, M.C. Beaton, Joan Hess, Sarah Graves, Karen Harper, Michael Connelly, Alexander McCall Smith and several others.

Check our New Arrivals for page for everything new at MLB.

Coffee & Crime series starts up in January

We've set up an exciting program of Coffee & Crime author breakfasts starting in January. Here's what's coming up:

Each of these events begins at 10 am and includes a contintental breakfast and author talk and signing. Cost is $5 and reservations are essential.

What's on the website now

Here's what you can find at www.mysterylovers.com:

Upcoming Events

Jan. 23 - Alan Gordon
Jan. 26 - MLB Night at City Theater
Jan. 30 - Sarah Graves
Feb. 20 - Joanne Dobson
Feb. 27 - Heather Terrell
Mar. 5 - Nancy Martin

More events...

Start off the new year right--with a book
Richard, Mary Alice and the MLB Staff

Did we mention that we won a Raven Award?

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