Boswell Event Forecast: Celebrating the third edition of A Time of Terror, plus two events with Crimespree: Cara Black on Tuesday and Michael Harvey on Thursday, with Harvey in conversation with Ruth Jordan

Please note that the dinner at Joey Gerard's in Greendale this Wednesday is sold out. If you'd like a signed copy of Planet Smoke, they will be available on Thursday  afternoon. If you're interested in a signed copy of one of his backlist titles, we have a number of them available, but in order to make sure we get one signed for you, please order it from us by email or website. If it says "on our shelves now," it is likely we can get one signed for you.

Monday, June 27, 7 pm, at Boswell:

Fran Kaplan, Robert Samuel Smith, and Reggie Jackson,
celebrating the third edition of A Time of Terror.
This event is cosponsored by America's Black Holocaust Museum.

Please join us to hear about this award-winning memoir, the only account of a lynching ever written by a survivor, just republished in a third edition by America’s Black Holocaust Museum. Robert Smith, Fran Kaplan, and Reggie Jackson will read from the book, explain how it came to be published, and discuss its relevance for today's readers.

Dr. Robert Samuel Smith is Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Inclusion and Engagement, the Director of the Cultures and Communities Program, and Associate Professor of History at the UWM. He is author of the book Race, Labor and Civil Rights, and contributes a monthly column to Milwaukee Magazine.

Dr. Fran Kaplan serves as coordinator of the America’s Black Holocaust Museum online. She has been an educator, social worker, writer, and racial justice activist for nearly five decades. Fran has created and run nonprofit and for profit organizations that address issues from women’s health and farmworker rights to nurturing parenting, early childhood education, and peace-building.

Reggie Jackson, M.S., is Chair of the Dr. James Cameron Legacy Foundation, Head Griot (docent) of America’s Black Holocaust Museum, and protégé of Milwaukee civil rights icon James Cameron. Jackson is much sought-after as an educator and public speaker about African American history and contemporary race relations.

Tuesday, June 28, 7 pm, at Boswell:

Cara Black, author of Murder on the Quai,

co-sponsored by Crimespree Magazine and Alliance Française.

We are so excited to welcome back Cara Black for her third appearance at Boswell. For those of you anxiously awaiting the next adventure of Aimeé Leduc, mark your calendar. For those of you who have never read Leduc, this is a great place to start, as Murder on the Quai goes back to the time when Aimeé was in college. Here's Boswellian Anne's recommendation:

"In this prequel to the Aimée Leduc series, we meet the young Aimee in 1989. She is a premed student, struggling to succeed in the career that others think is right for her. We learn how she meets Rene, finds herself becoming interested in her father's work in the family detective agency, and finally how tragedy touches her life, killing her father and making her mother into a lifelong mystery. I have enjoyed this series from the start and this is a most worthwhile trip back to the beginning!" (Anne K. McMahon)


Marilyn Stasio is also a fan, highlighting Black's newest in the Crime column of The New York Times Book Review: "The case is engrossing, complete with Vichy flashbacks, but the most fun are the scenes where Aimée meets her future partners and acquires Miles Davis, her beloved bichon frisé. One caveat: For such a clotheshorse, Aimée doesn’t do nearly enough shopping."

You wouldn't know it from this delightful tote featuring the shoes of Aimeé Leduc. We're also celebrating the 25th anniversary of Soho Press with this free-with-purchase offer - the first 20 people to buy Murder on the Quai from us who mention this offer get the tote free. We've given away more than half of them, so if you want one, I'd purchase the book before our event.

Thursday, June 30, 7 pm, at Boswell:

Michael Harvey, author of Brighton,

in conversation with Ruth Jordan of Crimespree Magazine.

Let me get this one: "Kevin and Bobby, as close as brothers, maneuver the mean streets of working-class Brighton. They are both poor, but Kevin is a smart kid and has a chance to make it. Kevin’s grandmother, who owns a cab business, is killed for her money. Tensions are going to flare – the murderer is black and this is in the height of the bussing riots. Kevin vows to kill the perpetrator, but Bobby takes the fall. Years later, Kevin is a Pulitzer-winning journalist and back in the neighborhood, only to find that Bobby is running a numbers business that the Providence mob wants a piece of. But it’s worse than that – a series of brutal murders might not just be connected to his prize-winning story, but to the messy past he’s left behind. I love the overlapping themes of justice and family that plays out on several levels. The violence is a bit gorier than you expect from my reading, but the writing is so good, and the characters are so strong that I carried on, steeled against guts pouring out and the like. You know what they say – no guts, no glory. Enjoy!" (Daniel Goldin)

Here's the clean Stephen King quote: "Helluva Boston crime novel. Helluva novel, period. If you liked The Departed, you'll like this." —Stephen King." This is when I miss King's column in Entertainment Weekly. He'd be blowing out copies of the book with a rave like this. Oh, and here's the adult quote from Stephen King: "Brighton is the f*cking bomb!"

And here is Mr. John Grisham's review. "I have enjoyed all of Michael Harvey's books, but his latest, Brighton, is his best. I couldn't stop reading."

I hear these are both very good writers and you should just listen to what they say. One person I listen to is Ruth Jordan, who along with her husband Jon, runs Crimespree Magazine, the Milwaukee-based guide to all things crime-y. Crimespree, which also runs the very popular Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee conference in November, is cosponsoring this event, and Harvey will be in conversation with Ms. Jordan.

I missed Harvey's last event at Boswell but I found his talk about The Innocence Game, a stand-alone inspired by his work on The Innocence Project, fascinating. Take a Summerfest break and come out for a whodunit happening.

And then we don't have any events for a week, until July 6. But if you're between a parade and a picnic, we're open July 4 for 10 am to 5 pm.