Swierczynski takes on the Black Widow!

"Black Widow #6 is probably the most intense jumping-on point I’ve experienced in my comic-reading experience so far this year, and it’s earned its place in my heart for many a reason... it won me over as soon as I read its first page.

The way that Swierczynski manages to have readers looking one way while he lobs a rather nonchalant curve in the opposite direction is a skill that many-a-writer, selling double the numbers, have yet to master, yet Duane makes it look simple... Swierczynski & Garcia purposefully leave readers not just wanting to know more, but needing to.

Between the exciting story and effective art by Manuel Garcia I only have one question: Why aren’t you reading it?"

- Alternate Reality Comics

More love for Moe

Bookgasm is thrilled that "Reed Farrel Coleman’s Moe Prager is back, folks...INNOCENT MONSTER is another masterfully written descent into Prager’s world of regret and anguish...like most of the Prager series, it is utterly compelling and nearly impossible to put aside. So INNOCENT MONSTER is highly recommended for those willing to take a stroll down the darker side of human nature, with Coleman and Prager as your guide."

Amie Streater tells it like it is

"[A] straightforward approach to helping believers get out of debt. [Amie Streater] encourages living in light of God's abundance, not in overindulgence, and growing God's kingdom through sound financial practices. Speaking with integrity and with the wisdom of experience, she advises readers, shattering money myths and replacing them with sound biblical teaching in personal finance.

Your Money God's Way is a practical guide on how to reflect Christ to others through debt reduction, budgeting, tithing, giving and a financially responsible lifestyle. Heartfelt stories, scripture and practical application encourage personal growth."
- Christian Retailing

Innocent Monster scores a starred review

"Sashi Bluntstone, the 11-year-old Next New Thing on the New York art scene, has been abducted, and Moe Prager—former NYPD cop and former PI—is asked by his estranged daughter, Sarah, to join the search. He expects only tragedy; Sashi has already been missing for three weeks, and he hasn’t been a PI for seven years.

Now a well-to-do wine merchant, Moe agrees, primarily to attempt to restore his relationship with Sarah. He quickly learns that nothing increases the value of paintings faster than the death of the painter. Suspects abound: wealthy, self-important collectors; greedy gallery owners; odious rival artists; even the victim's parents. But Moe abides. This sixth Moe Prager novel is pretty much note perfect.

[Reed Farrel] Coleman's take on the art world as a den of iniquity is priceless, as is Moe himself—intelligent, street smart, and tough, especially for a sixtysomething. He’s also sophisticated, despite seeing himself as a “poor schmuck from Brooklyn.” He’s a mensch, and his bone-deep world weariness and mordant sense of humor should enthrall lovers of old-school, tough-talking, loner private eyes (think Loren D. Estleman's Amos Walker)."

- Booklist, Starred review

Wired Mag is sweet on Rucka's Batwoman: Elegy.

"[Kate Kane, aka Batwoman, is] off to a great start with the literary-minded mayhem of Batwoman: Elegy, which collects issues No. 854 to 860 of Detective Comics and features a foreword from political geek Rachel Maddow.

Smartly written by Greg Rucka with sublime art from J.H. Williams, who is also writing and drawing Batwoman’s ongoing series starting in July, the new hardcover is a promising, powerful and often psychedelic phenomenon in a sexualized superhero landscape dominated by men in tights." - Wired magazine

A quick rave for SO COLD THE RIVER

"Michael Koryta's novel is being compared to the writings of Stephen King and Peter Straub. He lives up to the comparison in this dark novel." - USA Today

Beneath the dome

The New Yorker visits Indiana for the West Baden Springs Hotel experience, Pluto Water not included.

In D. C., The Washington Post feels the chill. "[T]he material is so fresh and the characters so appealing that my interest never flagged. After reading it, I'm sticking to good old D.C. tap water. "

SO COLD THE RIVER also gets a nice write up in Australian paper The Age.

Stefanie Pintoff brings Det. Ziele to Texas

Join Edgar Award-winning author Stefanie Pintoff in Houston tomorrow (Saturday) night for a discussion about her critically-acclaimed Detective Ziele series. She'll be at Murder by the Book at 5 pm.

And, if you're in North Texas, no worries! You can meet Pintoff at the West Plano Barnes & Noble on Monday, 7 pm.

The just-released second book, A CURTAIN FALLS, has garnered critical praise, such as this rave review from Oline H. Cogdill (Sun Sentinel):

"In her second novel, Stefanie Pintoff shows how the best in historical fiction not only unveils our past, but shows how our modern concerns evolved. Her comparison to Caleb Carr is well earned, although Pintoff shows a wider range and deeper affinity for storytelling than the author of "The Alienist."

Pintoff's meticulous research captures the heart of the era but her detailed characters and gripping plot about greed, jealousy and obsession for fame set "A Curtain Falls" on a higher plane. Pintoff nails the historical aspects with aplomb while giving close attention to characters. The people who inhabit "A Curtain Falls" give glimpses into how New Yorkers lived at the turn of the 20th century."

All Things Considered dips into haunted waters

NPR has posted Michele Norris' conversation with Michael Koryta. Listen to the intriguing story here.

You can also read an excerpt and hear "Short Trip Home", the Joshua Bell song that shaped this chilling story.

Also up is a review in Entertainment Weekly:

"well-plotted...Michael Koryta, the author of first-rate Midwest-set mysteries, swigs from the fount of Stephen King with So Cold the River — much of the story takes place in a resort hotel á la The Shining"

Pick up the perfect summer book today

Available online and in stores today, SO COLD THE RIVER is the literary vacation you're looking for!

In her NY Times Sunday Book Review, Marilyn Stasio agrees wholeheartedly.

"If all good mysteries make ideal summer reading, what does a mystery fan turn to for true escape? How about a super­natural mystery that intensifies the suspense by thickening the atmosphere.

SO COLD THE RIVER (Little, Brown, $24.99), by Michael Koryta, is a superior specimen, with its eerie tale of a lovely valley in Indiana where at one time an elixir known as Pluto Water bubbled up from the underground springs. The restoration of the valley’s two old spa hotels attracts the interest of a cinematographer from Chicago who drinks the water and starts having visions...Koryta sets a beautiful scene, resplendent with dreamy images."

Koryta is a "Born storyteller"

Bestselling thriller writer Jason Pinter says "So Cold the River is a breathtaking departure from Koryta's crime novels, upping the plotting and characterization skills that Koryta has displayed through five books...The result is a gripping, terrifying, and sometimes astonishing read."

Pinter's BEA interview with Koryta is up at The Huffington Post.

The Globe and Mail commends Stefanie Pintoff

"Stefanie Pintoff's debut, In the Shadow of Gotham, won two major first novel awards. This sequel is even better.

It's the early 20th century. Former New York police partners Simon Ziele and Declan Mulvaney have taken very different paths. Ziele relocated to rural Dobson, where he can solve crime without facing the violence of the city. Mulvaney, in Gotham, glories in the most violent crimes. But when a showgirl dies onstage, he's stumped and calls on his old partner for help.

Pintoff seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of early criminal investigation, and fits it all into an excellent plot. "

So Cold the River is a Best Book of June!

Amazon.com's editors pick Michael Koryta's newest thriller as a must-read!

“[SO COLD THE RIVER is] spellbinding and check-your-doors-and-windows scary, and it all begins with a check and a bottle of water. At its deliciously creepy core, So Cold the River is about two men facing down their demons, and what happens when those demons fight back.

Recommended for fans of Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane”


Check out Michael Koryta's chat with Deb Smouse at Everything Girl, and Koryta's blog for more lovin' from the Australia's Men's Fitness magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, The St. Petersburg Times and Cape Cod Times.

Michael Koryta tackles ghosts new and old

Check out Sarah Weinman's great piece for the LA Times:

"So Cold the River is almost twice as long as his previous books (though it doesn't feel that way in the slightest), is more firmly set in small-town Indiana not far from where the author grew up, and dives headlong into supernatural territory -- so much so that after finishing the book I cast a suspicious eye on the water bottle on the nearby night-table, an unspoken admonition not to drink it sounding off loudly in my mind."

Swierczynski, toot-sweet

Spinetingler Magazine is sold on Swierczynski's Expiration Date, which they've declared is "entertaining as all hell. [Swierczynski's] prose is clean and the action never flags, new rules and twists popping up every couple of pages and hurtling you helplessly towards the climax. In other words, what you’d hope for in a Swierczynski novel.

Swierczynski is one of the great “just one more chapter won’t hurt, I’ll still be able to function in the morning” writers the crime world has today, and Expiration Date is nowhere near a fucking exception. Pick that shit up and for-fucking-go some sleep toot-fucking-sweet, dear reader."

Critics love Det. Zeile

Edgar-winning Stephanie Pintoff's book IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM is a historical mystery that adopts "new crime investigation techniques just being born: fingerprinting and profiling, most obviously, but basically the whole idea of a scientific approach to figuring out whodunit. All of these historical elements are folded into a strong plot with a genuine mystery that challenges the reader into beating the detective protagonist to the solution." (ReadingTheLeaves.com)

And, "A CURTAIN FALLS is an even stronger book than the first...we have the beginnings of what promises to be a strong series." (ReviewingTheEvidence.com)

The Lost River will wash over you too

The Christian Manifesto has a rave review for Michael Koryta's newest book:

"In a deeply suspenseful novel, So Cold The River is gripping, haunting, and all around unsettling. To call it impressive is a bit of an understatement. It was a seriously great book with awesome suspense and some extraordinarily haunting scenes.

This [book] excels in using the dark environment to accentuate evil. I loved it and the further I got into it, the better it became with an ending that was truly worthy of this remarkable book...Koryta appears to be a very talented author. I’m impressed with his imagination as well as story and character development abilities. "

The Deputy drips blood

"One warning before picking up this book: don’t crack it open unless you are willing to park your ass in place for a couple hours and read it front to back in one sitting. Because once the action starts – and it starts almost immediately – it doesn’t stop until the end of the book. It is almost impossible to put down.

Victor Gischler has written a balls-out action movie of a book, with plenty of sex and violence to appease the most diehard of fans...Gischler captures perfectly the dead-end life in a remote small town and the impossible-seeming struggle to get away from it.

The guy [Gischler] knows his mayhem, and he’s got a great sense of humor. Gischler knows what his readers want and delivers it in gory handfuls. What more could you want?"

For something new that is exciting and drips blood but doesn’t require a huge time commitment, give The Deputy a try. Fans of violent crime fiction will love it."

- Chris LaTray, BluntForceBeating.com

American Gothic at its best

Fresh Fiction has declared that "Michael Koryta's new novel is American Gothic at its best. In the tradition of Stephen King, SO COLD THE RIVER will most certainly send a chill down your spine and keep you turning pages well into the night."

But Michael's fans aren't just in the U.S. Check out his interview of Ten Terrifying Questions with Australia's Booktopia.

The Indie Next List for June 2010

The American Booksellers Association features SO COLD THE RIVER in their Indie Next List of Great Reads:

"Koryta's prose is fluid and masterful, making this a delightfully eerie and mesmerizing read!"
- Jennie Turner-Collins, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH