The Toadstool Bookshops of Keene, Milford, and Peterborough, NH

The Among the Elms Writer’s Group meets at the Keene Toadstool the first and third Wednesday of the month.  

Among the Elms is a writer’s group for those with a love for the written word. Come for feedback, fellowship, support, inspiration, and information. All writers are welcome.  

*The book shown is not one that will be talked about, it is simply to highlight books from our writing section that me be found interesting.

Area authors of all genres meet each Friday evening here at the store to share, critique, and explore their craft of writing.

The groups' host is Tammy McCracken. Please give her a call for more details as space is limited, or email her: tammyattoadstool@aol.com

Meetings in JUNE: 21, 28 and JULY: 5, 12, 19, 26.

*A note: The book(s) displayed here will not necessarily be discussed nor used, they're simply examples of newer titles in our writing section. Please browse!

That's right fans. We heard you and lobbied hard with the publisher. CRAIG JOHNSON, author of the popular Walt Longmire series will be appearing at our store this summer to promote his latest mystery, A SERPENT'S TOOTH.

It's homecoming in Durant, when Cord Lynear, a Mormon "lost boy" shows up in Absaroka County. Sheriff Walt Longmire, his second in command Vic Moretti, and good friend Henry Standing Bear search for the boy's mother and find themselves on a high plains scavenger hunt that lands them at the barbed wire doorstep of a well-armed interstate polygamy group run by 400 pound Roy Lynear - the boy's father. Uh-oh.

CRAIG JOHNSON is the NYT bestselling author of the Walt Longmire mysteries, now a hit A&E drama series. He lives in Ucross, WY, population 25, where he makes a killer cup of coffee.

Our SF&F group meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays each month to talk about the speculative fiction they have recently read.

Open to all teens and adults. Sometimes snacks, always a 'bonus'! Ask the moderator.

Meetings in JUNE: 12, 26 and JULY: 10, 24.

The book(s) displayed here will not necessarily be discussed. Rather, they are examples of what's new and exciting on our shelves. Please browse!

Welcome to our monthly meeting for teens, where YOU become the star!

The group will select FREE books (many in advance of publication) and review them for the following month. It's a great way to meet fellow readers, try something new, and polish your editorial skills. Perhaps one day soon we'll be reading YOUR book!

Our host is Sarah Brodin, give her a call and sign up to reserve your place at the table. Meetings are usually held on the fourth Thursday each month.

Next meetings: JUNE 27 and JULY 25.

Join us as we welcome authors Page Morgan and Erin Bowman who will be leading a book discussion and signing their books The Beautiful and the Cursed and Taken, respectively.

The Beautiful and the Cursed. After a bizarre accident, Ingrid Waverly is forced to leave London with her mother and her younger sister, Gabby, trading a world full of fancy dresses and society events for the unfamiliar city of Paris.

In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house her twin brother Grayson found for them isn't a house at all. It's an abbey. A creepy, old abbey with a roof lined in stone gargoyles that one could almost mistake for living, breathing creatures. And Grayson is missing.

Yet no one seems to be concerned about Grayson's whereabouts save for Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant who has some secrets of his own. There's one secret about the city that he can't keep hidden, though. There's a murderer on the loose. And every day Grayson is missing means that there's less of a chance he's alive. Ingrid is sure her twin isn't dead--she can feel it deep in her soul--but she knows he's in grave danger, and that it's up to her and Gabby to find him before all hope is lost.

The path t Grayson will be twisted, leadig Ingrid to discover dark secrets and otherworldy truths that, once uncovered, can never  again be buried.

Taken. There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys - but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends...and he's gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby's eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he's prepared to meet his fate - until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he's been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets, the Heist itself, and what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot - a structure that on one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken - or risk everything on the hop of the other side?

About the authors: Marlborough author Page Morgan has been fascinated with les grotesques ever since she came across an old, black-and-white photograph of a Notre Dame gargoyle keeping watch over the city of Paris. The gargoyle mythologies she went on to research fed her imagination, and she became inspired to piece together her own story and mythology for these remarkably complex stone figures. Page lives in New Hampshire with her husband and their three children.  

Londonderry author Erin Bowman knew she wanted to write from the moment she uttered her first "once upon a time." Now a full-time writer, she lives in New Hampshire with her husband. You can visit her online at www.embowman.com. 

Join us as we welcome radio host and New York Times bestselling author Howie Carr as he discusses and signs his books, including the most recent Rifleman: The Untold Story of Stevie Flemmi, Whitey Bulger's Partner.

Stevie "the Rifleman" Flemmi was for 40 years one of the most feared gangsters in Boston, and for much of that time, he was the partner of Whitey Bulger, the 16-year fugitive with a $2 million reward on his head who was captured in 2011.

Flemmi has been convicted of 10 murders and took the Fifth Amendment when asked about 10 others. His cohort, Bulger, is charged with 19 more. Their hitman, John Martorano, was convicted of 20 others. Rifleman is the story of Flemmi’s life of crime, as told to federal and state law enforcement after he pleaded guilty in 2003. The original document that the book is based on is called a DEA 6, and it ran 146 single spaced pages, covering dozens of extortions, assaults and murders, including two of his girlfriends, one of whom was also his common law stepdaughter.

The book spans the years from the days of dime bets and fedora-wearing gangsters to the modern world of highflying drug smugglers, who promised Flemmi and Bulger a million dollars each in "protection money" for every boatload of drugs they could bring into Boston Harbor. Along with Flemmi’s statements, the text includes Carr’s notations whenever Flemmi appears to be stretching the truth, which is often.

Supplementing the text are close to 300 photographs from Carr’s own collection, a treasure trove of mugshots and noir-style pictures of slain gunmen, hoods being taken into court under guard, as well as never-before-seen wanted posters and FBI documents. This is truly a must-have for any True Crime fan, a combination police procedural and a coffee table book of unforgettable photographs.

Flemmi, now 78, is serving a life sentence at a penitentiary the Bureau of Prisons declines to identify. He is expected to be a major witness in the federal trial of Whitey Bulger, which is scheduled to begin in Boston June 6. 

Howie Carr is the author of two New York Times bestsellers, The Brothers Bulger and Hitman. Before Bulger fled in 1994, Carr was such an implacable foe of the serial killing gangster that Whitey tried to kill him as he left his house in suburban Boston—an incident reported in 2006 on 60 Minutes. Whitey's younger brother, Billy Bulger, then the president of the Massachusetts State Senate, publicly referred to Carr as "the savage." Carr is also the host of a daily syndicated four-hour radio program heard throughout New England, and is a member of the national Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago. He won a National Magazine Award in 1985 for essays and criticism in Boston magazine. 

Join us in welcoming New Hamphire author Linda Tiernan Kepner with her newest science-fiction adventure Planting Walnuts. 

Brannon, ex-Confederation Space Fleet Marine, blacklisted and broke, dodges an arrest warrant by joining an operation that needs money desperately enough to take the worst surveying jobs on the books. The team of Gonderjhee and Company, Surveyors, includes a cheated and bankrupt owner, an elderly office manager, an over-excitable intern, a clinically-depressed alien Fleet Captain, and a staff with a host of formidable handicaps, weaknesses – and strengths. Brannon’s goal is to keep them all alive long enough to pick up his share of the profits. But they aren’t the only ones getting an education out of this adventure.

Linda T. Kepner has loved genre fiction - science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and romance - since she was a child, although not much was available in "serious northern" New York State. Except for Canadian television and books available in school libraries, there was none to read - so she wrote her own. Linda's science fiction and fantasy short stories have appeared in Absolute Magnitude magazine, and its anthology (from Tor Books); Reality's Escape, Sorcerer's Apprentice Magazine, and Dreams of Decadence. Her short stories also appear in Little Shop of Poisons and Potions and The Apothecary on the Street of Dreams.

Local author KRAMER GREENFIELD visits to sign and discuss his delightful new comedy of errors in a novel, The Blessings and Sorrows of Schlumel the Angel.

Mr. Greenfield has created a wonderfully wicked satire in this novel about Schlumel, a man taken before his time because of an error in Heaven. To make up for the mishap, his superior and The Almighty decided to make him an angel and give him extra powers to return to Earth.

See what all the commotion is about, and meet the author!

"His compassion, his cleverness, his irreverence, and especially his sense of humor make Schlumel my favorite angel ever." - Rebecca Rule, author of Live Free and Eat Pie and NH storytelling legend.

Born into a large family in Revere, MA, the first-time author is a medical assistant in Nashua, NH.

Just for kids! Join fellow readers and take home free (yes, free!) books to review for the following month's meeting. Many of these titles are compliments of the publishers, in advance of the official 'on sale' date.

Sign up is required. Please ask for Sue or Sarah. Meetings are usually on the second Thursday each month. Did we mention snacks?

Next monthly meetings: JULY 11th and AUGUST 8th

We are hosting the local science fiction and fantasy author's book release party for Elisha Barber: The Dark Apostle.

Nobility, knights, oaths and swords stand for honor to the modern reader, but to the common man of the Medieval era, they meant fear, pain , and treachery. Magic is not a means to greater glory - unless you crave the glory of the flame. From the gritty streets of fourteenth century London a hero walks. Beneath the burden of tragedy, Elisha goes to join battle in an unjust war. He does not stride. He is no king. He is no fool. He is in fact, a barber. And a haunted man.

The author makes her home in southern New Hampshire with her family.

KIT GRINDSTAFF travels from the far reaches of Pennsylvania to bring us her debut novel of royal intrigue, The Flame in the Mist.

Thirteen-year-old Jemma finds herself in a race for her life when she discovers an ancient prophecy that reveals the truth about her past and an unimaginably great and dangerous destiny - to defeat the evil Agromonds, and restore peace and sunlight to Anglavia. Will she?

KIT has woven a magical, suspenseful tale with a feisty heroine whose untapped powers might be the only hope for a kingdom in peril. For readers 9+. Hope to see you all here for adventure!

KIT was born near London and raised in the rolling countryside of England, which is curiously similar to Anglavia. After a brush with pop stardom (under her maiden name, Hain - check it out!), she moved to New York and embarked on a still-thriving career as a pop songwriter. She now lives in the rolling countryside of Pennsylvania with her husband. You can find the author on the Web at kitgrindstaff.com and theflameinthemist.com.

Join us as we welcome author Kit Grindstaff as she discusses and signs copies of her new dark fantasy for young adults The Flame in the Mist.

Set in an imagined past, this dark fantasy-adventure is for fans of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. It features Jemma, heroine held captive in Agromond Castle, yet destined to save mist-shrouded Anglavia.

Fiery-headed Jemma Agromond is not who she thinks she is, and when the secrets and lies behind her life at mist-shrouded Agromond Castle begin to unravel, she finds herself in a chilling race for her life. Ghosts and misfits, a stone and crystals, a mysterious book, an ancient prophecy—all these reveal the truth about Jemma's past and a destiny far greater and more dangerous than she could have imagined in her wildest fantasies. With her telepathic golden rats, Noodle and Pie, and her trusted friend, Digby, Jemma navigates increasingly dark forces, as helpers both seen and unseen, gather. But in the end, it is her own powers that she must bring to light, for only she has the key to defeating the evil ones and fulfilling the prophecy that will bring back the sun and restore peace in Anglavia.

Kit Grindstaff was born near London, England. After a brief brush with pop stardom (under her maiden name of Hain), she moved to New York and became a songwriter. Kit now lives with her husband in Pennsylvania. The Flame in the Mist is her first book.