On the go

I've been very lax in posting here as I've been on the go (and cannot post on here from my iPad, alas) ... first a lovely appearance at the library in Fair View, Vermont (thank you, ladies!) followed by the wonderfulness that is Booktopia-Vermont, at the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center. This past Tuesday a book club on the shores of Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, New York (yes, it is fun to discuss LEARNING TO SWIM watching the waves crash outside!) with a brief stopover in Lake Placid and Potsdam, and then to Colgate Bookstore in Hamilton, New York. Back to Vermont just in time for an appearance last night at Everyone's Books in Brattleboro!

And then to wake up this morning to the great news that my friend A.S. King just won the LA Times book prize for her latest, ASK THE PASSENGERS.

UPDATED: Now this post if more than a week old! A quick catch-up: Had a lovely time at the Newburyport Literary Festival last weekend, soon off to Malice Domestic, and then the Festival of Mystery in Oakton, Pennsylvania, on this coming Monday.

And here's a review of A COLD AND LONELY PLACE in New Zealand

It's kind of fun to see your book reviewed in far-flung places - like Manawatu, New Zealand.

If for some reason the New Zealand link doesn't work, here's the article in another paper. (The original version appeared in the Sun Sentinel.) And here's a bit of the text:

"Most of us thrive on human contact. But for others who have been wounded by the people they love most, isolation in a cold and lonely place may seem like paradise.

"That sense of severing all previous ties and never truly getting close to people permeates Sara J. Henry’s insightful second novel, “A Cold and Lonely Place.” As she did in “Learning to Swim,” Henry explores the complicated nature of relationships while delivering a suspenseful novel full of unpredictable twists." - from Book Reviews, by Oline Cogdill

I'm a bestseller! (OK, there are several caveats)

But, yes, one of my books is a bestseller, at Cellar Door Books in Riverside, California, during the month of March, that is. Here are the top ten:

1. Learning to Swim, Sara J. Henry

2. Iron-Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill

3. The Little Russian, Susan Sherman

4. New Moon’s Arms, Nalo Hopkinson

5. Gods and Warriors, Michelle Paver

6. Warm Bodies, Isaac Marion

7. Devil’s Star, Jo Nesbo

8. Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss

9. Dinosaurs Before Dark, Mary Pope Osborne

10. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

While I'm at it, a huge thanks to Linda Sherman-Nurick at Cellar Door for having an event for me earlier this month - if you're anywhere near Riverside, check out this great independent bookstore - and to Teresa Rhyne (THE DOG LIVED AND SO WILL I) and Chris Kern (Forgotten Grapes) for arranging this event for me and hosting me.

And for sending me the newsletter with this info! (Even though I bumped Teresa's book out of the top ten for this month!)

I particularly like the line: "Sara J. Henry is not a normal author"

A review I cannot resist quoting:

It’s so rare when an author’s second book lives up to the promise of their first, especially when that second book is a sequel. Sara J. Henry, though, is not a normal author, so I immediately knew that A Cold and Lonely Place, Henry’s second Troy Chance novel after Learning to Swim, would be good. What I didn’t realize is that it would be gripping, gorgeous, and wonderfully atmospheric.

Henry writes the atmosphere of upstate New York well in A Cold and Lonely Place. The reader gets a sense of the laid-back nature of a ski bum-type town, but there are hidden resentments underneath. The cold and snow blankets everything, makes it all seem more mysterious. Henry knows exactly what to do with this setting, bringing it to life and making it a character in its own right. It’s amazing to immerse yourself in this novel, as you’ll forget you’re not in the snow and ice of Lake Placid while reading.- from S. Krishna's Books: Book Review

You can sample my new book here ...

If you can't wait to get your hands on a copy, here are the first four chapters of A COLD AND LONELY PLACE.

A Cold and Lonely Place by Sara J. Henry - Excerpt by Crown Publishing Group

Heading out on my cross-country driving book tour (yes, this is somewhat insane)

First stop: Murder by the Book in Houston! Feb. 21.

And now I head out on my mad cross-country book tour (which all seemed quite sensible when I conjured this up in the dead of winter). But here is roughly where I will be and when:

• Feb. 21, Murder by the Book, Houston, Texas, 6:30 pm 
• Feb. 23, A Real Bookstore, Fairview, Texas, 7 pm 
• Feb. 27, Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, Arizona, 7 pm 
• March 1: Mysterious Galaxy, Redondo Beach, CA, 7:30 pm 
• March 3: Cellar Door Books, Riverside, California, 4:30 pm 
• March 7: Literary Salon, Berkeley, California - contact Janet Rudolph
• March 21-24: Left Coast Crime, Colorado Springs, Colorado - panel Friday, March 22, 9 am; and Sunday, 10 am (this is the only event that isn't free and open to the public)
• March 25: St. Louis County Library, St. Louis, Missouri, 7 pm 
• March 28: University Bookstore, Memphis, Tennessee, 11 am 

If you live along this route and have a store or library that would love to have me, email me - or if you have a book club that would like to host me .... May add more events as time goes on. But hope to see some of you at these.

In April it's back home to Vermont and visits to stores and libraries in that area, and then Maryland and Pennsylvania - you can check my website for that schedule.