Sunday, April 27, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Join us at Booth #411

UCLA Campus

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS

Sunday, April 27


10:00 a.m.

Deborah Turrell Atkinson signs FIRE PRAYER (Poisoned Pen, $24.95). Hawaiian lawyer Storm Kayama and her lover, Ian Hamlin, meet up with Storm's foster parents on the island of Molokai. Storm agrees to check on a former classmate's son, but the boy's mother is murdered, and the boy disappears.

Baron R. Birtcher signs ANGELS FALL (Iota Publishing, $23.95). Former L.A. detective Mike Travis searches for a teenaged girl who has disappeared into an underworld of designer drugs and violent sex.







Stephen J. Cannell signs THREE SHIRT DEAL (St. Martin's Press, $24.95). Shane Scully has a new partner – the beautiful Scout Llevar – as his wife, Alexa, withdraws from him after her near-fatal shooting (in last year's WHITE SISTER). Scully and Llevar investigate a prisoner's claims that the LAPD coerced a confession out of him; the first investigator on the case, Brian Devine, is someone Scully has a bad history with.

Catherine Coulter signs DOUBLE TAKE (Putnam, $25.95). FBI Special Agent Cheney Stone rescues a beautiful young widow after she's thrown from San Francisco's Pier 39. The attack seems linked to the murder of the woman's husband, and Stone must find the truth in order to save her.

Charlie Huston signs HALF THE BLOOD OF BROOKLYN (Del Rey trade paperback, $13.95). Vampire Joe Pitt crosses the bridge into Brooklyn, where he becomes involved in a deadly dispute between rival clans.







Rita Lakin signs GETTING OLD IS TO DIE FOR (Dell paperback original, $6.99). Gladdy Gold, who's been described as a "Yiddish Miss Marple," is back in New York with her sister Evvie. It doesn't take long for her friends Sophie, Bella and Ida to follow – and then Gladdy's boyfriend Jack shows up, to reopen the 47-year-old unsolved case of Gladdy's own husband's murder.




11:00 a.m.

Christopher Goffard signs SNITCH JACKET (Overlook/Rookery, $24.95).

The October Discovery Club selection introduces Benny Bunt, who hangs out at the Greasy Tuesday, a dive in Costa Mesa; his best friend is Gus "Mad Dog" Miller, the bar's bouncer. When Mad Dog asks Benny for help with a contract killing, Benny agrees – and finds himself on the hook for a double murder.

Lee Goldberg signs MR. MONK IN OUTER SPACE (NAL hardcover, $19.95). Conrad Stipe, legendary creator of the cult television series "Beyond Earth," is gunned down by someone wearing an elephant nose and a starship uniform. Mr. Monk investigates with the help of the show's biggest fan – his brother, Ambrose.

Tod Goldberg signs LAS VEGAS NOIR (Akashic trade paperback, $15.95). Goldberg is one of 16 authors represented in this collection edited by Jarret Keene and Todd James Prince.







Christopher Reich signs THE PATRIOTS CLUB (Bantam paperback, $7.99). Thomas Bolden and his girlfriend are mugged, but the attack is just the first step in a conspiracy to draw Bolden into an centuries-old secret.

Nina Revoyr signs THE AGE OF DREAMING (Akashic trade paperback, $15.95). In 1964, an aspiring screenwriter visits silent-screen legend Jun Nakayama, who retired from films forever in 1922. The screenwriter, Nick Bellinger, wants Nakayama to come out of retirement, but Nakayama has his reasons for wanting to stay out of the limelight.







Mark Haskell Smith signs SALTY (Grove Press trade paperback, $14.00). Clair's July favorite is the story of faded rock star Turk Henry, whose wife, Sheila, is kidnapped by pirates in Thailand. Turk's ready to do whatever he has to do to get Sheila back, but a U.S. government functionary forbids him to negotiate with terrorists, and Sheila finds herself more and more fascinated with her captor.




12:00 noon

Cornelia Funke signs A PRINCESS, A PIRATE AND ONE WILD BROTHER (The Chicken House, $18.99). Three great stories about three great characters: Little Violetta, who trains in secret to become the Princess Knight; Molly, who shows Captain Firebeard and his crew who really rules the high seas in "Pirate Girl;" and Ben, "The Wildest Brother," who battles moldy green ghosts and slime-belching monsters but needs his sister to protect him at night.







Denise Hamilton signs LOS ANGELES NOIR (Akashic trade paperback, $15.95). A collection of stories about the mean streets of L.A., including contributions from Michael Connelly, Gary Phillips, Christopher Rice, and Naomi Hirahara.

Walter Mosley signs DIABLERIE (Bloomsbury USA, $23.95). Computer expert Ben Dibbuk has a great life, but a big gap in his history – years he can't remember, while he was a hopeless alcoholic. He meets a strange woman at his wife's magazine launch, and she makes it clear that she knows things about Ben that he doesn't.







Thomas Perry signs FIDELITY (Harcourt, $25.00)

Jacqueline Winspear signs AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE (Henry Holt, $24.00). Maisie Dobbs agrees to investigate a few matters related to what seems to be a routine real estate purchase. She travels to a small farming village in Kent, and finds herself drawn into a web of secrets, prejudice, arson, and murder.







Edward Wright signs DAMNATION FALLS (Orion first U.K. edition, $50.50). Wright's first standalone is the story of burnt-out journalist Randall Wilkes, who returns to his hometown of Pilgrim's Rest, TN to ghostwrite a memoir for his old friend Sonny McMahon, a former governor. Sonny's mother, Faye, is beginning to lose her wits, and worries that her son may be in danger. Faye herself is found hanging from a bridge, and it's only the first in a series of deaths that wind up tearing Pilgrim's Rest apart.




1:00 p.m.

Sheryl J. Anderson signs KILLER RIFF (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95). Molly Forrester's been promoted from advice columnist to feature writer at Zeitgeist magazine, and her first assignment is a profile of a legendary rock manager/producer who's just died of an overdose. The rocker's daughter is convinced that the overdose was no accident, though, and a little investigation makes Molly wonder whether she might be right.

Jennifer Colt signs THE CON ARTIST OF CATALINA ISLAND (Tessera Books trade paperback, $22.95). Twin detectives Kerry and Terry McAfee spend Christmas on Catalina Island, but wind up searching for a missing newlywed instead of celebrating the holiday.

Joanne Fluke signs CARROT CAKE MURDER (Kensington, $22.00) and CANDY CANE MURDER (Kensington, $16.00). The October Delicate but Deadly Club (and Carol's Favorite) is a collection of three novellas, plus recipes from Fluke and Meier.

Sue Ann Jaffarian signs THUGS & KISSES (Midnight Ink trade paperback original, $13.95). Odelia Grey has two mysteries on her hands: first, the murder of a much-loathed high school classmate at their 30th high school reunion, and second, the disappearance of Odelia's troublesome boss, a temperamental lawyer.







Laura Levine signs CANDY CANE MURDER and DEATH BY PANTYHOSE (Kensington, $22.00). Professional writer Jaine Austen takes a job writing jokes for Dorcas MacKenzie, a standup comic who uses pantyhose as a prop. When Dorcas's rival Vic is found strangled with a pair of pantyhose, Jaine is determined to clear her client's name.




2:00 p.m.

Brett Battles signs THE CLEANER (Delacorte, $22.00). Our July Discovery Club selection is a first novel about Jonathan Quinn, who used to be a cop but now cleans things up when operations go bad. Sent to look at an apparently accidental fire that killed a viral biologist, Quinn discovers that the doctor was murdered, and then finds himself running for his own life.

Robert Gregory Browne signs KISS HER GOODBYE (St. Martin's, $23.95). In this debut thriller, ATF agent Jack Donovan shoots the pregnant wife of gangster Alex Gunderson in the chase following a bank robbery. Seeking retribution, Gunderson kidnaps Donovan's teenage daughter, Jessie – and buries her alive.

Tom Epperson signs THE KIND ONE (Five Star, $25.95). In 1933 Los Angeles, "Two Gun" Danny Layton wakes up without his memory, and believes his friends when they tell him he works for a mob boss.







Steve Hockensmith signs THE BLACK DOVE (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95). Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer – better known as Old Red and Big Red are ready to become professional detectives, but someone takes a shot at them. It turns out to be their friend Dr. Chan, but before they can figure out what's going on, Dr. Chan is dead. The police call it a suicide; Old Red knows better.

Dick Lochte signs CROAKED! (Five Star, $25.95). In 1965 Los Angeles, Ogle copywriter Harry Trauble starts to worry when the magazine's circulation director is crushed by the magazine's stone mascot (a frog), and a new magazine called "Penthouse" threatens to take over Ogle's market.

Abraham Rodriguez signs SOUTH BY SOUTH BRONX (Akashic trade paperback, $15.95). Alex wakes up with a strange woman in his bed – not just a one-night stand, but a woman he's genuinely never seen before. Ava's reasons are not only compelling, but perhaps deadly.








3:00 p.m.

Ed Decter signs EXPEDITION TO BLUE CAVE, EXPEDITION TO WILLOW KEY, and EXPEDITION TO PINE HOLLOW (Aladdin paperback, $4.99 apiece). Decter's Outriders series for kids aged 9-12 are tales of adventure set on Surf Island, where Cam Walker and his friends – including a 243-pound mastiff named Howie – set out to make exciting things happen.

Joe Hill signs 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS (William Morrow, $24.95). A short story collection of visions and nightmares from the award-winning writer of HEART-SHAPED BOX.







Ken Kuhlken signs THE VAGABOND VIRGINS (Poisoned Pen, $24.95). On the eve of the 1979 Mexican election, San Diego private investigator Alvaro Hickey starts hearing about apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Baja California, urging campesinos to vote against the PRI. Lourdes Shuler thinks the "Virgin" is her sister Lupe, and wants Alvaro to find her; something about her story doesn't sound right to Alvaro, but he agrees to take on the job.





Jim Pascoe signs UNDERTOWN (Tokyo Pop, $9.99). Linda's August Mystery of the Month for Kids is the first in a new graphic novel series for kids aged 8 and up. Undertown is a magical place that hides the Sugar Stone, which has healing properties; the Insects and the Furmen battle for the Stone.