Bücher veröffentlicht von Harper

Britney Spears ? the princess of pop ? is making a comeback, and there isn't a person out there who hasn't heard about it. In this fully up-to-date and authoritative biography, Steve Dennis reveals all there is to know about the much-loved star.Hitting our radios for the first time in 1998 with '...Baby One More Time', Britney Spears quickly became a pop idol. Now, at just 27 years of age, she has racked up five number one albums, seven top-ten singles and seven sell-out world tours, as well having performed on stage with both Madonna and Michael Jackson. Just a decade after breaking onto to scene, she has become nothing short of a pop legend.Her private life, however, has not been so easy. In 2004 Britney famously married a childhood friend at The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas; since then her personal life has seemingly been thrown into turmoil. In the last five years she has had numerous failed relationships and endured a very public divorce and custody battle ? all in the full glare of the international media.Drawing on exclusive interviews with those closest to the superstar, Britney: Inside the Dream is a engrossing portrait of fascinating star. A frank biography, with no detail spared, it reveals the real Britney Spears, like you've never known her before.

Roald Dahl and Quention Blake meets Tim Burton in sassy poet Laura Dockrill's edgy and hilarious tale You might have known somebody like Ugly Shy Girl once ...You might have seen her bumping into lamp-posts and tripping over her bag.She wears a denim skirt down to her ankles and a second-hand Naf Naf jacket.Her hair hangs down in front of her face and her nails are bitten and sore.She is always doing or saying completely the wrong thing. This itwisted tale is about the struggle of growing up in a place where you don't belong, surrounded by people you hate ...and how delicious getting your own back can be.

Regarded as the best radio and TV comic of his era, Tony Hancock was a man whose star burned brightly in the eyes and ears of millions before his untimely death in 1968. Now, forty years on, critically acclaimed biographer John Fisher brings the first fully authorised account of his life. Tony Hancock was one of post-war Britain's most popular comedians ? his radio show 'Hancock's Half Hour' would clear the streets as whole families tuned in to listen. His peerless timing and subtle changes in intonation marked Hancock out as a comic genius. His character 'Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock' was an amplification of his own persona, a pompous prat whose dreams of success are constantly thwarted. The original British loser that we recognise in Victor Meldrew and Alan Partridge. Wonderfully supported by a cast including Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams, and working with scripts from Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Hancock became a huge star. The show was commisioned for TV, showcasing his talent for hilarious facial expression, and he became the first British comedian to earn a thousand pounds a week. Behind Tony Hancock's success however hid the self-destructive behaviour that plagued him all his life. Prone to self-doubt, and wanting to be the star of his own show, he got rid of James, and finally dismissed Galton and Simpson who had created the platform for his success. His private life was wracked by his ever increasing alcoholism and bouts of depression, and his relationships shattered by his capacity for violence. His ratings fell and, feeling washed up and alone after divorcing his second wife, he committed suicide in an Australian hotel room in 1968. Now, forty years after his death John Fisher explores the turbulent life of a man regarded by his peers as one of the greatest British comics to have ever lived.

An exhilarating new tale of modern espionage and international intrigue ? sure to appeal to the many fans of Tom Clancy, Dale Brown and Patrick Robinson. Jerry Piat has been on the run from the FBI for two years, but he's about to be made an offer he cannot refuse. Clyde Partlow an upper CIA executive needs him for a mission that involves a member of the Saudi ruling clique, a fearsome man who's been cheating his own associates out of their funding for terrorism against the West ,and using the money for his own personal profit. Piat's job is to entice former agent Digger Hackbutt into working for the CIA again. Hackbutt will use his exemplary skills as a falconer as bait for the Saudi aristocrat, which in turn will hatch a daring plan for blackmail. Meanwhile behind the scenes Alan Craik is highly suspicious of Clyde Partlow's intentions and sets about trying to find out exactly what is going on. With the bait set and Jerry Pitat about to be a free man for the frist time in years, everything is set for success. But the best laid plans seldom run smoothly and the ultimate disaster is just moments away.

The explosive first novel from the author of the bestselling 'The Little Prisoner' is a gripping tale of a woman whose troubled childhood comes back to haunt her. In the chill of a winter's morning, a sweet and likeable 13-year-old girl unexpectedly gives birth in the bathroom of her council flat. The baby, the product of a brutal rape by her stepfather, is whisked away to hospital and is eventually adopted by a rich suburban couple. As far as everyone is concerned, Sadie will never see the baby again. The girl, Sadie Burrows, survives her ordeal and goes on to become a successful businesswoman, famous in the media, even courted by politicians as an example of young enterprise. Then, out of the blue, there is a knock at the door. And Sadie's shameful secret comes back to haunt her. Sadie, the first novel by best selling author of 'The Little Prisoner' Jane Elliott, is an explosive story of abuse, business, love, success, blackmail, murder and cover-up.

The most intimate portrait of Peter Cook to date, Cook's first wife writes of her life with Britain's most ingenious and innovative comedian, and offering a side of him few have ever seen. To his many fans, Peter Cook was quite simply the funniest man they never met. Over a decade since his untimely death, his reputation as one of Britain's greatest comics shows no sign of shrinking. Wendy Cook was a teenage art student when she first met the handsome Cambridge undergraduate in the early Sixties. They married soon after and together founded the Establishment clubs in London and New York, and financed the satirical magazine Private Eye. Wendy bore Peter his only children and they lived together during the most explosive time in Peter's amazing career. But the price of this stratospheric rise was high. 'I felt eventually I had to go my own way rather than stay with somebody who was that nihilistic. Alcohol stokes up the demons and a completely different person starts to emerge. He did know how to behave well, but it rotted into something else. At a certain point I thought, "This will be the end of me if I don't leave now."' Finally Wendy took her daughters to Majorca to live on a farm and the couple eventually divorced a few years later in 1971. Putting aside 30 years of discretion about her life with the comedian, Wendy decided to break her long silence to set down her memories. Comprised of personal anecdote, musings of intimate friends, from Alan Bennett to Jonathan Miller to Paul McCartney, and exclusive photography.

An exhilarating tale of modern espionage and adventure featuring US Navy intelligence officer Alan Craik. In Tel Aviv, Commander Alan Craik, a US Navy veteran agrees to check out the death of a former Navy enlisted employee. He plans to be out the door and on to his real work in half an hour. But the task quickly turns dangerous, and what should have been a routine investigation becomes something very ugly. Nominal American allies in Israel withhold or alter information; nominal colleagues at home set up their own operation to satisfy the political needs of Washington; a wife betrays her husband and deceit and distrust prove to be the only common denominator. When Mike Dukas, a dogged, cynical special agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service joins the investigation, it leads them all from Tel Aviv to Gaza and the Greek island of Lesvos to Jerry Piat, a renegade CIA officer. With agents of Mossad and the Palestinian Authority always close behind them, Alan Craik demands the answers to some far-reaching questions. What are the rules in modern conflict? Where is honour? And what is the cost of telling the truth?

An exhilarating new tale of modern espionage and adventure featuring US Navy intelligence officer Alan Craik. During a fleet exercise in India, Alan Craik faces a minefield of explosive events that threaten to tear the country and a US battlegroup apart. A military base is attacked by 'fringe elements'; an Indian submarine mutinies and then shoots down a US Navy aircraft and a group of Indian scientists are killed when they are attacked with Sarin gas. Craik, ignoring the conventional wisdom that the incidents are unrelated, believes that a fanatical group have control of certain elements of both the Indian government and its armed forces. Then the rebels seize part of India's nuclear arsenal. Suddenly, a U.S. carrier battle group joins Pakistan, China, and Saudi Arabia on the target list. The world is faced with the spectacle of a nuclear-capable nation in the hands of a self-destructive religious cult, and it's up to Craik and a team of specialists to re-capture the nukes and prevent massive devastation. But with time running out and the cult leader still at large, are they already too late?

This book recounts the entire story of the most successful British band since The Beatles. From their humble beginnings to the break-up that shook the pop world, to their explosive and successful come-back tour a decade later, TAKE THAT ? NOW AND THEN exposes the intimate details of the band that changed pop history. Containing hot behind-the-scenes information on the band's sell-out come-back tour, Take That ? Now and Then gives a complete history of the band, with revelations on what's happened over the band's time together and apart, and allows you to relive the tour experience all over again. Formed in Manchester in the early '90s, everyone had their Take That favourite, from the cheeky Robbie to gorgeous Mark Owen. Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Jason Orange completed the group, and they went from strength to strength with their unique mix of high-energy dance tunes and soulful ballads. But theirs was not an easy beginning. Gruelling training schedules, tours across the nation in gay clubs that saw their bottoms pinched and empty school halls on a 'Safe Sex tour', all had to be endured before the boys finally 'made it' in the fickle world of pop music. But once they made it, boy did they make it! The only thing more certain than Take Take's next single going straight into the Top Ten was that they would clean up at every award ceremony going, both as a group and as individuals. But behind the glamour and success, tensions were mounting. Robbie Williams was sliding into the depths of depression, and on the eve of their 1995 tour, he left the band. By 1996, Take That were no more. Speaking exclusively to those inside the music industry who knew them best, many of whom have never spoken publicly about their experiences, music journalist Martin Roach recounts exactly what went on behind the scenes during those years, as well as providing first-hand accounts of the fickle world of pop from members of some of the UK's most prolific boy-band members.

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline delivers a gripping stand-alone thriller that features a female judge who gets into trouble when the defendant in a high-profile lawsuit is killed Lawyer Cate Fante, who is attractive, sexy, and tough-minded, has just been appointed to the federal bench in Philadelphia. With her new status in the elite meritocracy that is the federal judiciary, she often feels like an imposter because of her working-class background. For instance, at a fancy dinner, she's more likely to joke with the waiters than her colleagues. Divorced, Cate also has a secret sex life. She's attracted to bad boys and working-class men, like the ones she grew up with in the former coal-mining town of Centralia in northeastern Pennsylvania.Cate is presiding over a high-profile multi-million dollar breach-of-contract lawsuit in which a former Philly ADA is suing the producer of a highly successful TV series for stealing his ideas. All true, but the verbal contract isn't enforceable. As difficult as it is, this means that Cate has to make a ruling that ends the lawsuit in the sleazy TV guy's favor. Cate learns that being a judge doesn't always mean that she can do justice.Upset over the ruling she had to make, Cate heads for a bar and there meets a good-looking rough-hewn leather-jacketed hunk and goes off with him to a nearby motel. Cate quickly realizes she's made a mistake, apologizes and turns to leave, but the guy becomes aggressive and Cate barely manages to get out of the room. At home, she turns on the local news to learn that the TV producer from her court case has been shot to death outside a local restaurant. Not only that, but she soon also finds out that a man has been found dead after a fall from a motel's exterior staircase. A stricken Cate recognizes instantly the pictures of the leather-jacketed man who'd attacked her at the hotel.Things go from bad to worse in a hurry, and amazingly Cate finds her private life splashed all over the papers and her job in jeopardy. Her only hope is to clear her name and find a murderer.

She writes ¿high speed comic mayhem¿ (Detroit Free Press); she's “a blast of fresh air¿ (Washington Post), ¿side-splittingly funny¿ (Publishers Weekly) and “a winner¿ (Glamour). In other words, she's Janet Evanovich. And she's back with another blockbuster thriller. Alexandra Barnaby, mechanic extraordinaire. Sam Hooker, a sexy race car driver who can rev any woman's engine. Barnaby's wacky brother, Wild Bill, who's always in trouble. The outrageous Cuban cigar-rolling women, sure to provide comic relief. They're fabulous characters, they're still hanging out in sunny Florida, and they're off on another crazy adventure, in the super-duper, stupendous, magnifico sequel to Metro Girl.

For months he'd thought of her as the Mystery Woman, draped in a black velvet cloak, with outrageous red curls, flawless skin, and carrying a large, odd case -- but the night David Dodd saw a helicopter drop a chunk of metal through the roof of his lovely neighbor's bedroom, he got to meet the formidable and delightful Katherine Finn at last! Rescuing damsels and fixing roofs was dangerous work, he told her, and at the very least he deserved a kiss -- didn't he? Kate couldn't argue with Dave's logic, but how could she, the driven concert musician with more commitments than hours in the day, be falling head over heels for a likeable cuddler who seemed to be drifting through life? No one had ever made her feel as cherished or desirable, and she'd never had so much fun, but even though her eccentric boarder, Elsie, assured her that where Kate was concerned Dave had plenty of ambition, could she really love a guy who was just smart, sexy and rich?

A woman with a talent for numbers, Alexandra Scott wanted to escape the rat race and go someplace where the men outnumber the women. Trading in her Wall Street job and fancy condo for a rundown cabin in the woods. She's now Alaskan Wilderness Woman. It isn't long before she finds exactly what she's looking for: one sexy pilot named Michael Casey. But this confirmed bachelor has no intentions of getting caught in any woman's crosshairs -- especially a hunter as appealing as Alex. It'll take skill, determination, and a little romantic persuasion for this big-game hunter to bag her prey.

FBI agent Andie Henning is tracking a ruthless kidnapperplaguing south Florida, one who's out to prove that all human life can be valued in dollars and cents. But at every turn, he has slipped through her net. This time he's taken the wife of one of the state's richest horse breeders and is asking a ransom of $1 million. The stakes go up when Andie finds the woman -- dead.Enter Jack Swyteck. He has a new girlfriend, Mia, and life is good -- until she goes missing. Then Jack gets a one-two punch: he discovers that his lover is married, and her rich husband receives a ransom demand that pegs Mia as the kidnapper's latest victim. Worst of all, her husband knows about the affair with Jack, and he decides to pay the kidnapper exactly what his cheating wife is worth: nothing. Feeling deceived, Jack at first resists getting involved. But as secrets unfold about Mia's strange marriage and mysterious past, Jack is in for a twisty ride that may bring him face-to-face with a madman.