

# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Choose Your Own Mystery!
- **Event Start and End Date**: Sun, 29 Jun, 2025 at 09:00 pm – Sun, 29 Jun, 2025 at 10:00 pm
- **Event Description**: Join us in-store &amp; on Facebook live!

Whether you're a fan of historical mysteries of cozy crimes, this stellar lineup of authors has something for you.


Lynn Cahoon, Christina Dodd, Mary Anna Evans, Dianne Freeman and Sam Lumley
 
Lynn Cahoon. An Amateur Sleuth's Guide to Murder (Kensington, $27.00).

New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon makes her hardcover debut with an irresistible new meta-mystery series about an amateur sleuth who doesn’t just solve crimes, she writes about how to do it . . .

TIP #1: WHAT DOESN’T K*ll YOU COUNTS AS WORK EXPERIENCE
Meg Gates could use a guidebook for life. Indeed, she’s faced some challenges. She dropped out of college to work for a tech startup that failed—and her fiancé just took her bridesmaid to Italy on what was supposed to be Meg’s honeymoon.

Now, at twenty-six, Meg has taken the ferry ride of shame from Seattle back to Bainbridge Island to live with her family. At least she has her rescue cocker spaniel, Watson, by her side. But it’s Meg who could use a rescue—and she’s hoping it will come in the form of a part-time gig doing research for a bestselling mystery writer.

TIP #2: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW – OR WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW
That’s when the lightbulb goes on: Meg will write her own guidebook—a manual on criminal investigation. But before she can impress her new boss with her pet project, the author’s manager is found dead on the rocks beneath the author’s Gothic mansion.

Now it’s time to put her guide to the test, as Meg sets out to clear her employer of suspicion and solve the crime. But there’s one important caveat she’ll have to add to her guide—

TIP #3: BEWARE OF UNKNOWN DANGERS

Lynn Cahoon is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of cozy mysteries including the Kitchen Witch Mysteries, the Cat Latimer Mystery series, the Tourist Trap Mysteries, the Farm-to-Fork series, the Survivors' Book Club Mystery series, and The Bainbridge Island Mysteries. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers and her books have sold more than a million copies. Originally from Idaho, she grew up living the small-town life she now loves to feature in her novels. She now lives with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town in Eastern Tennessee and can be found online at LynnCahoon.com.

 

Christina Dodd. Thus With A Kiss, I Die (Kensington, $28.00)

The delightfully irreverent eldest daughter of the not-so-ill-fated Romeo and Juliet returns to sleuth another day in fair Verona, in this hugely entertaining historical mystery series with a refreshingly bold premise.

“Woe, for I am the bug that meets the windshield's might,
No longer the speeding glass, smooth, clean and bright . . .”

You’re right. I, Rosie Montague of Verona, am lousy at iambic pentameter and Shakespeare speak, but you get the point: Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. I, who for my whole life, have cruised along, unruffled by life’s trials, am suddenly smashed flat and speeding recklessly up the What the Hell Happened Highway.

Why? you ask . . .

I’m 20-years-old and by my own design, never been wed, free as no married woman ever is. I’m beautiful, but without conceit, for Juliet, my legendary Mamma is the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the earth. Just ask Romeo, my legendary Papà. (Rumors of their deaths were premature.) I was heartwhole until I fell (literally) in love with Lysander of the House of Beautiful. But our love was not to be, for I was thwarted by Escalus, the Prince of Verona . . . who had designs on me.

I’m trapped.

Then! I’m presented with a solution. Escalus’s father, Prince Escalus the Elder, appears to me. He tasks that I find his killer. Did I mention Elder is a ghost?

Given that I only recently dispatched Verona’s first serial killer, I’m less than pleased. Yet Elder promises to unite me with my One True Love, so I gather clues. Meanwhile, revolution threatens, for beneath Verona society’s glittering surface lurk dark shadows—and an enemy eager to make me a tragic heroine in my own right . . .

Christina Dodd is a New York Times bestselling author whose suspense, paranormal, historical, and mystery novels have been translated into 30 languages and sold more than 15 million copies in print. Praised for her “brilliantly etched characters, polished writing, and unexpected flashes of sharp humor that are pure Dodd” (Booklist), her award-winning books have landed on numerous Best of the Year lists and, much to her mother's delight, Dodd was once a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle. She lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest, where her 700 lavender plants share the yard with her husband’s various “Big Projects,” including a treehouse, zipline, and their very own Stonehenge. Enter Christina’s worlds and join her mailing list for humor, book news and entertainment (yes, she’s the proud author with the infamous three-armed cover) at ChristinaDodd.com.


Mary Anna Evans. The Dark Library (Sourcebooks, $32.99 hc, also in pb $15.99).

"A fascinating and intelligent WWII home front story." —Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author for The Physicists' Daughter

Can a family's dark history repeat itself?

Estella Ecker has returned to Rockfall House, the last place on earth she wants to be. Years after she ran away from her overbearing father, she has been forced back home to walk in his footsteps, teaching at the college he dominated and living in the fabulous home where he entertained artists and scholars for decades—and perhaps she owns it now, because her mercurial mother has disappeared. At the center of everything—the whispers, the rumors, the secrets—is her father's library of rare books, which she had been forbidden to touch while he was alive to stop her.

Everyone in town is watching Estella, with her dead father's name on their lips, and no one seems to care about her missing mother. Who were her parents, really, and is the answer hidden somewhere in the depths of Rockfall House? And who will Estella be, if she gathers enough courage to find that answer? What she discovers is that no one can escape the secrets hidden in this dark library.

Suspenseful and unsettling but ultimately triumphant, The Dark Library by acclaimed author Mary Anna Evans is a compelling tale of mystery, family secrets, and the quest for truth.

Mary Anna Evans (@maryannaevans)

Mary Anna Evans is the author of the Faye Longchamp archaeological mysteries, which have received recognition including the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Mississippi Author Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals. She is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches fiction and nonfiction writing. Winner of the 2018 Sisters in Crime (SinC) Academic Research Grant

Dianne Freeman. A Daughter's Guide to Mothers and Murder (Kensington, $27.00).

In the latest USA Today bestselling, Victorian Era-set Countess of Harleigh Mystery from multi-award winning author Dianne Freeman, Frances Hazelton and her husband, George, uncover the secrets of backstage Paris to find out who’s acting the role of a killer to chilling perfection…

Frances and George are enjoying some well-deserved leisure time in Paris when an old acquaintance from London, Alicia Stoke-Whitney, seeks Frances’s help to investigate a personal matter. Alicia’s daughter is being courted by Carlson Deaver, a wealthy American shadowed by a very suspicious tragedy.

Less than a year ago, Carlson’s wife, a former actress, was murdered, her body discovered in one of the more dubious quartiers in Paris. Though authorities guess it was a robbery gone wrong, no one was ever brought to justice. Until Daniel Cadieux, Inspector for the Sûreté, follows a startling new lead. None other Sarah Bernhardt, legendary icon of the Paris stage, receives a piece of jewelry stolen from the victim, along with an incriminating note: I know what you did.
It opens a new door for the Hazeltons’ investigation, as well. But not a soul believes that the Divine Sarah would become entangled in something so disreputable as murder—even if she and the late Mrs. Deaver did have a history of theatrical clashes. Amid questions of revenge, blackmail, scandals, and secrets, more poisoned pen letters follow, and suspects abound. Now it’s up to Francis and George to infiltrate the most elite social circles of Paris, and find a culprit before another victim faces their final act.

Dianne Freeman's Pandemic Books – The Poisoned Pen Bookstore

Dianne Freeman is the acclaimed author of the Agatha and Lefty Award winning Countess of Harleigh Mysteries, a two time finalist for the Macavity’s Sue Feder Memorial Award, and a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She spent thirty years working in corporate accounting and finance and now writes full time. Born and raised in Michigan, she and her husband now split their time between Michigan and Arizona

Sam Lumley. How to Have a Killer Time in DC (Kensington, $27.00).

A young, gay, autistic travel writer takes a head-spinning detour when murder and romance unbalance his well-planned life and career in this fun, quirky debut mystery . . .

For twenty-four-year-old Oliver Popp, autism is just another fact of life. As long as Oliver sticks to a comfortable itinerary planned well in advance, he gets by just fine as a staff writer for Offbeat Traveler magazine. But a curveball drops into Oliver’s budding career when his first feature assignment takes him to Washington, DC, to chronicle the latest tourism trends.

His freelance project photographer is Ricky Warner, a gregarious and impulsively adorable shot of adrenaline. If the flirty gay photographer isn’t enough to unbalance shy Oliver at the get-go, there’s also an unsettling chance encounter with old acquaintance, Elise Perkins, and a congressional hearing that’s shaking up both the capitol and an entrepreneurial billionaire. The unexpected distractions soon collide—quite literally—when Elise is struck dead by a speeding car. Funny how she didn’t move and didn’t scream. She just stared it down like she knew it was coming. Forget the National Mall and Mt. Vernon Square. Oliver and Ricky are game for something much more interesting: solving a mystery and a murder.

With their focus shifted and a deadline coming, they only have a few days to solve the crime. For Oliver, it’s a weeks of firsts: first crush, first time without a schedule, first time playing amateur sleuth, and first time getting wrestled out of his comfort zone. But with a loosey-goosey new partner like Ricky, that might not be such a bad thing at all.


Sam Lumley is the author of the Oliver Popp’s Travel Guides to Murder series, and like its protagonist, is both gay and autistic. He also owns a vintage Chevrolet Corvair and once lived in a basement apartment in Washington, D.C.—experiences that also make appearances in the series. Previously an amusement park ride operator, a college radio disc jockey, a museum curator, and a school administrator, he holds a BA in Historic Preservation and an MA in Museum Studies.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/scottsdale-arizona/choose-your-own-mystery/200028385816811
- **Event Categories**: art, literary-art, theatre, business
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 10

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: http://facebook.com/200028385816811?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=scottsdale%2C+arizona-events

## Event venue details

- **city**: Scottsdale, Arizona
- **location**: Online event
- **full address**: Online event, 4014 N Goldwater Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251-4327, United States,Scottsdale, Arizona, Scottsdale, Arizona

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore (https://allevents.in/org/the-poisoned-pen-bookstore/7966536)

## Event gallery

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- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events7/banners/d9adc030dbc10d27e2a192b459194eeb64c61fd40d6979c0b327a4d9d277f836-rimg-w300-h300-dcf0d975-gmir?v=1750838711

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Sun, 29 Jun, 2025 at 09:00 pm
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** Online event, 4014 N Goldwater Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251-4327, United States,Scottsdale, Arizona, Scottsdale, Arizona
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** The Poisoned Pen Bookstore
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** art, literary-art, theatre, business
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Choose Your Own Mystery! ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

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