We continue to spotlight specific authors in various categories.  This newsletter features four guest authors who keep us thrilled, chilled and bone-tired from reading late into the night.

• Jeffery Deaver: Carte Blanche, The New James Bond Novel
• Craig Johnson: Hell is Empty
• Spencer Quinn: The Dog Who Knew Too Much
• Brad Thor: Full Black

Most bibliophiles savor well woven stories of heists, espionage, double agents, double crosses, theft and grisly murder.  The Savannah Book Festival nails them all.  Jeffery Deaver, Craig Johnson, Spencer Quinn and Brad Thor will introduce us to the new heinous felons on the block.

Jeffery Deaver

Jeffery Deaver has added Carte Blanche, the latest James Bond book, to his prolific work of twenty-eight novels. Ian Fleming Publications Ltd selected Deaver to continue the 007 thrillers and he does not disappoint.  Conceived in the post-9/11 world, Afghan war veteran, James Bond has been given carte blanche to do whatever it takes to protect the Realm as action takes place in London, Dubai and Cape Town.

Among the novels earning Deaver his international bestseller moniker are Edge, The Burning Wire, Roadside Crosses, The Sleeping Doll, and The Cold Moon. His books are sold in 150 countries and have been translated into twenty-five languages. The Bodies Left Behind was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association.

Jeffery Deaver has been awarded the Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers’ Association and the Nero Wolfe Award.  He is also a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Readers Award for Best Short Story of the Year. He has been nominated for seven Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America.  And, yes, as his website gives away, the rumors are true—he did appear as a corrupt reporter on his favorite soap opera, “As the World Turns.”

Craig Johnson

Craig Johnson’s seventh book in his Sheriff Walt Longmire series is the riveting Hell is Empty.  This most recent thriller by the Wyoming based crime novelist has the Sheriff and his deputy escorting a trio of convicts through Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains.

Escorting escalates into a perilous manhunt in snow, blizzard winds and treacherous ice—evoking Dante’s Inferno, which Longmire’s deputy happens to be reading on the expedition.  Other titles in this series of seven include The Cold Dish, Death Without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, and Another Man’s Moccasins.  Johnson is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Fiction, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award for Fiction, the Nouvel Observateur Prix du Roman Noir, and the Prix 813.   He lives in Ucross, Wyoming—population 25.  Last August A&E acquired 10 episodes of Longmire, based on Johnson’s mysteries.  Writing teams gather this winter for a week long sojourn in Wyoming, which should substantially increase the population of Ucross!

Spencer Quinn

Spencer Quinn’s  The Dog Who Knew Too Much  is number four in the author’s Chet and Bernie mystery series featuring canine narrator Chet and his human companion, Bernie Little, who heads the “Little Detective Agency.”  Quinn’s plots cover kidnapping, murder, and other serious mayhem, but the fun never stops with his dry humor and the tweaking of canine Chet’s literal thinking.

Quinn promises to be a perfect fit with canine enamored Savannah—the home of Georgia University’s beloved mascot, Uga; Forsythe Park’s annual Halloween Pawrade, (Zombie dog, this year’s winner); and the wildly popular Weiner Dog Races (an Oktoberfest highlight).  Spencer Quinn’s endearing series began with Dog On It followed by Thereby Hangs a Tale, To Fetch a Thief and The Dog Who Knew Too Much, published last September.

Brad Thor

Brad Thor is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Full Black, The Athena Project, Foreign Influence (one of Suspense Magazine’s best political thrillers of 2010), The Apostle, The Last Patriot, The First Commandment, Takedown, Blowback (recognized as one of the “Top Killer Thrillers of All Time” by NPR), State of the Union, Path of the Assassin, and The Lions of Lucerne.

Thor’s novels have been published around the world and he appears regularly on the FOX News Channel, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and PBS to discuss terrorism.  Thor has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell Unit.  He is a fellow of the Alexandrian Defense Group, lectures to law enforcement organizations on over-the-horizon threats, has been the keynote speaker for the National Tactical Officers Association annual conference, is a producer and on-cameral contributor to GBTV, and sits on The International Free Press Society’s Board of Advisors.

Special Brad Thor Event

Brad Thor will kick off the Festival on Wednesday, February 15 at “An Evening with Brad Thor” dinner at the Plantation Club at the Landings on Skidaway Island.  Reservations for this event may be purchased for $65 at http://www.savannahbookfestival.org/2012-festival/ticketed-events/brad-thor-dinner/.  The evening will include dinner, a presentation by the author, a Q&A period and book sales and signing.  Reservations are open to the public and seating is limited.

These four authors’ books run the gamut from deadly malfeasance to crime with quirky protagonists and wry humor.  Deaver, Johnson and Quinn will speak on Saturday, February 18 at venues in and around Telfair Square in the heart of Historic Savannah, taking advantage of its beautiful churches, parks and heritage sites including Trinity Church, Telfair Museum and the Jepson Center for the Arts.

And, speaking of quirky and wry, Historic Savannah is the birth place and childhood home of writer Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) who gave us a number of memorable, depraved crooks within her award winning short stories.  Readers of Good Country People are hard pressed to ever forger Mr. Manly Pointer, the smooth talking Bible salesman with a penchant for “collecting” wooden legs, glass eyeballs and pornographic playing cards.  www.flanneryoconnorhome.org.

Telfair Square Venues

Trinity Church	Jepson Center for the Arts
Telfair Museum

Important Reminder

Tickets for the Walter Isaacson presentation are available and can be obtained in person at the SCAD Box Office, or by calling (912) 525-5050 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday or at www.scadboxoffice.com.