Dear Gentle Reader,

With Memorial Day behind us, we are edging our way into summer, that mystical time where the end of the school year is in sight and the beach and mountains beckon. Don’t you fret, we have been reading plenty of books to recommend, so we are ready to help start those vacation stacks.

For those who dawdled, we regret to inform that our event with Dr. Abraham Verghese and Anita Rao on June 4th is sold out. And speaking of sold out, tickets are dwindling for the Our State Book Club Event with Clyde Edgerton, Bland Simpson, Wiley Cash, and Elizabeth Hudson on Thursday, June 26th. More  information is available here.

This Saturday, Keebe will be at BBQ & Bubbly in Cary, selling books for Adrian Miller and André Mack Heuston. Among the many offerings at this event at Fenton will be BBQ mini masterclasses from Adrian Miller, two-time James Beard Award-winning author, certified barbecue judge, and Netflix-featured food historian as well as a sparkling wine mini masterclass with André Hueston Mack, host of Bon Appétit’s “World of Wine” video series and former sommelier at the acclaimed three-Michelin-starred restaurants The French Laundry and Per Se. Should be a fun day, so drop by.

Space is still available to attend our event this Sunday, June 1st at 2pm with Craig Johnson for his new Longmire novel, Return to Sender. To attend, simply buy a copy of Return to Sender from McIntyre’s, and we will save two spaces for you and a friend. When Blair McGowan, the mail person with the longest postal route in the country of over three hundred miles a day, goes missing the question becomes—where do you look for her? The Postal Inspector for the State of Wyoming elicits Sheriff Longmire to mount an investigation into her disappearance and Walt does everything but mail it in; posing as a letter-carrier himself, the good sheriff follows her trail and finds himself enveloped in the intrigue of an otherworldly cult. “The straight-shooting hero is welcome in duplicitous times, but it’s the magnificent desert that captures the imagination.”—Kirkus Reviews

Craig is slated to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Bouchercon, aka the Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention, an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. This award is well deserved.

And a reminder that our favorite writing coach, Margot Lester, will be here nextWednesday, June 4th from 1:30 -3:30pm. If you are working on a project and are stuck, Margot is here to nudge you forward and provide insightful, kind feedback.  Drop by for some free advice from a professional writer.

The Usual Suspects,

Pete, Johanna, Sarah G., Tyler, Amy, Sarah C. and Keebe