When a bloody, pulverized body is found lying beneath the rustic timbers of an authentic torture device so vicious and complicated as to be blood-curdling, there's sufficient unrest in tiny Forbes Abbot to call in Chief Inspector Barnaby. Was Dennis Brinkley done in by crooked business partners, a teenage seductress, a couple of would-be publishers who've just inherited--and then lost--millions, or perhaps by tired, timid little Benny Fraye, who wouldn't hurt a fly--would she? Barnaby will soon find out just who set in motion the gruesome machine that crushed the unfortunate victim. Caroline Graham's delightful cozy village mysteries, which inspired the continuing Midsommer Murders series starring Inspector Barnaby on A&E Television, have long been fan-favorites; A Ghost in the Machine is sure to cement her reputation as one of the best crime writers in the mystery business today.
Alix & Nicky tells the dramatic story of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna, the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia-A penetrating and deeply personal study that gives profound psychological insight into their marriage and how it shaped the events that engulfed them.There are few characters in history about whom opinion has been more divided than the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. On one hand, they are venerated as saints, innocent victims of Bolshevik assassins, and on the other they are impugned as the unwitting harbingers of revolution and imperial collapse, blamed for all the ills that befell the Russian people in the 20th century. Theirs was also a tragic love story; for whatever else can be said of them, there can be no doubt that Alix and Nicky adored one another. Soon after their engagement, Alix wrote in her fiancé's diary: "Ever true and ever loving, faithful, pure and strong as death"-words which met their fulfillment twenty-four years later in a blood-spattered cellar in Ekaterinburg.Through the letters and diaries written by the couple and by those around them, Virginia Rounding presents an intimate, penetrating, and fresh portrayal of these two complex figures and of their passion-their love and their suffering. She explores the nature and possible causes of the Empress's ill health, and examines in depth the enigmatic triangular relationship between Nicky, Alix and their 'favourite,' Ania Vyrubova, protégée of the infamous Rasputin, extracting the meaning from words left unsaid, from hints and innuendoes..The story of Alix and Nicky, of their four daughters known collectively as 'OTMA' and of their hemophiliac little boy Alexei, is endlessly fascinating, and Rounding makes these characters come alive, presenting them in all their human dimensions and expertly leading the reader into their vanished world.
Effie Gray, a beautiful and intelligent young socialite, rattled the foundations of England's Victorian age. Married at nineteen to John Ruskin, the leading art critic of the time, she found herself trapped in a loveless, unconsummated union after Ruskin rejected her on their wedding night. On a trip to Scotland she met John Everett Millais, Ruskin's protégé, and fell passionately in love with him. In a daring act, Effie left Ruskin, had their marriage annulled and entered into a long, happy marriage with Millais. Suzanne Fagence Cooper has gained exclusive access to Effie's previously unseen letters and diaries to tell the complete story of this scandalous love triangle. In Cooper's hands, this passionate love story also becomes an important new look at the work of both Ruskin and Millais with Effie emerging as a key figure in their artistic development. Effie is a heartbreakingly beautiful book about three lives passionately entwined with some of the greatest paintings of the pre-Raphaelite period.
A story that garnered national attention, this is the harrowing tale of two men who suffered abuses at a reform school in Florida in the 1950s and 60s, and who banded together fifty years later to confront their attackers.Michael O'McCarthy and Robert W. Straley were teens when they were termed "incorrigible youth" by authorities and ordered to attend the Florida School for Boys. They discovered in Marianna, the "City of Southern Charm," an immaculately groomed campus that looked more like an idyllic university than a reform school. But hidden behind the gates of the Florida School for Boys was a hell unlike any they could have imagined. The school's guards and administrators acted as their jailers and tormentors. The boys allegedly bore witness to assault, rape, and possibly even murder.For fifty years, both men---and countless others like them---carried their torment in silence. But a series of unlikely events brought O'McCarthy, now a successful rights activist, and Straley together, and they became determined to expose the Florida School for Boys for what they believed it to be: a youth prison with a century-long history of abuse. They embarked upon a campaign that would change their lives and inspire others.Robin Gaby Fisher, a Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestselling After the Fire, collaborates with Straley and O'McCarthy to offer a riveting account of their harrowing ordeal. The book goes beyond the story of the two men to expose the truth about a century-old institution and a town that adopted a Nuremberg-like code of secrecy and a government that failed to address its own wrongdoing. What emerges is a tale of strength, resolve, and vindication in the face of the kinds of terror few can imagine.
THE THIRD BOOK IN THE KATE MARTINELLI MYSTERY SERIESIn Laurie R. King's With Child, adrift in mist-shrouded San Francisco mornings and alcohol-fogged nights, homicide detective Kate Martinelli can't escape the void left by her departed lover, who has gone off to rethink their relationship. But when twelve-year-old Jules Cameron comes to Kate for a professional consultation, Kate's not sure she's that desperate for distraction.Jules is worried about her friend Dio, a homeless boy she met in a park. Dio has disappeared without a word of farewell, and Jules wants Kate to find him. Reluctant as she is, Kate can't say no-and soon she finds herself forming a friendship with the bright, quirky girl. But the search for Dio will prove to be much more than both bargained for-and it's only the beginning.When Jules disappears while taking a trip with Kate, a desperate search begins-and Kate knows all too well the odds of finding the child alive.
Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell continues the tradition in M. C. Beaton's beloved Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series-now a hit show on Acorn TV and public television.Recently married to James Lacey, the witty and fractious Agatha Raisin quickly finds that marriage, and love, are not all they are cracked up to be. Rather than basking in marital bliss, the newlyweds are living in separate cottages and accusing each other of infidelity. After a particularly raucous fight in the local pub, James suddenly vanishes-a bloodstain the only clue to his fate-and Agatha is the prime suspect. Determined to clear her name and find her husband, Agatha begins her investigation. But her sleuthing is thwarted when James's suspected mistress, Melissa, is found murdered. Joined by her old friend Sir Charles, Agatha digs into Melissa's past and uncovers two ex-husbands, an angry sister, and dubious relations with bikers. Are Melissa's death and James's disappearance connected? Will Agatha reunite with her husband or will she find herself alone once again?
In 1936, Dorothy L. Sayers -considered one of the best mystery writers of the Golden Age-abandoned the last Lord Peter Wimsey detective story. Sixty years later, a copy of the unfinished manuscript was discovered in her agent's safe in London, and award-winning novelist Jill Paton Walsh was commissioned to complete it. The result was the international bestseller Thrones, Dominations. Now, this irresistible story is back in paperback. Picking up where Sayers left off, Jill Paton Walsh brings Lord Peter and Harriet Vane brilliantly to life in Sayers' unmistakable voice. Thrones, Dominations satisfies the vast readership hungry to know what happened after their honeymoon. Fan and critics rejoice at Jill Paton Walsh's resurrection of this beloved series.
A leading Harvard psychiatrist reveals how our emotional lives are profoundly shaped by the seasons, and how to recognize our own seasonal patterns and milestonesIn The Emotional Calendar, Sharp reveals how environmental, psychological, and cultural forces profoundly affect the way we feel, and how the enduring effects of personal anniversaries can influence our moods and behavior year after year. Sharp also illustrates a wide range of individual responses to cultural phenomena: some people feel anxious at the start of a new school year or are undone by the prospect of tax season while others are buoyed by the start of a sports season.Sharp shows us how to recognize the milestones on our own emotional calendars, providing guidance for how to break stifling patterns and remedy destructive moods. This empathetic and deeply resonant book will help readers reach an emotional balance for the years ahead.
F. Paul Wilson's engaging, self-employed, off-the-books fixer, Repairman Jack, returns for another intense, action-packed adventure just a little over the border into the weird, in The Haunted Air. First introduced years ago in the bestseller The Tomb, Jack has been the hero of a series of exciting novels set in and around New York City including Legacies, Conspiracies, All the Rage, and Hosts. "Repairman Jack is a wonderful character, ultracompetent but still vulnerable. Wilson strolls into X-Files territory and makes it his own, keeping the action brisk and the level of suspense steadily rising," said the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle.In Astoria, Queens, the lively ethnic neighborhood just across the river from Manhattan, a house is being haunted by the ghost of a nine-year-old girl in riding clothes. More than two decades before, she'd been abducted from stables in Brooklyn. Now it's up to Jack to uncover the truth of her story and liberate the pretty, blond spirit. Perhaps the answer is in the odd little store called the Shurio Coppe? Ah, but that would be telling.Jack does things no human being should be able to do, but we watch, in horrified fascination, as the forces of evil seem about to triumph and fill the world with eternal darkness. And then-- but you must read the book.
Jane Green's Another Piece of My Heart is an unforgettable novel that illuminates the nuances and truths about love, family, and motherhood from the New York Times bestselling author of Jemima J and The Beach House "A moving story peopled with nuance, sympathetic characters." -BooklistAndi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she's finally found him. Ethan-divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia-is a devoted father and even better husband. Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily's eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father's love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood-leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives ... and in their hearts."You will laugh and cry as you read...It's that good."-Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Lucia, Lucia and the Valentine Series
Do you want to be rich? Really rich? Like, Tom Selleck rich? Buy this book and we guarantee a lifetime of obscene wealth---or your money back!*The Florida Panhandle's most renowned top-gun entrepreneurs, The Dollar Bills, will teach you all the tricks of the trade to get rich fast and look great doing it:--Learn "The 5 Cs of Credit" (Cancun, Convertibles, Cognac, Chinchilla Coats, Cuticles)--Invest in exotic pets and floating assets (i.e., cigarette boats, pontoon boats, and other personal watercraft)--Get to know Freddie Mac, and learn why he should be respected (he was the hard-hitting, two-time Pro Bowl safety for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the mid-'80s)Loaded!: Become a Millionaire Overnight and Lose 20 Pounds in 2 Weeks, or Your Money Back shares all these hot tips, and many, many more--from the investing pair with the Midas touch! Turn your life---and your bathroom fixtures---to 24-karat gold with The Dollar Bills!*We're never giving you your money back.
A bastard hybrid of War of the Worlds and Night of the Living Dead, the Autumn series chronicles the struggle survivors are forced to contend with in a world torn apart by a deadly disease. 99% of the population of the planet has been killed in less than 24 hours. Animated by "phase two" of some unknown contagion, the dead begin to rise. At first slow, blind, dumb and lumbering, the bodies soon regain their most basic senses and abilities-sight, hearing, locomotion-as well as the instinct toward aggression and violence. Held back only by the restraints of their rapidly decomposing flesh, the dead seem to have only one single goal-to lumber forth and destroy the sole remaining attraction in the silent, lifeless world: those who have survived the plague, who now find themselves outnumbered 1,000,000 to 1... In Autumn: Purification, the heroes from the original Autumn novel and Autumn: The City work together to survive in this horrifying new world. Without ever using the 'Z' word, the Autumn series offers a new perspective on the traditional zombie story. There's no flesh eating, no fast-moving corpses, no gore for gore's sake. Combining the atmosphere and tone of a George Romero film with the attitude and awareness of 28 Days Later, this horrifying and suspenseful novel is filled with relentless cold, dark fear.
Sir Maurice Newbury, Gentleman Investigator for the Crown, imagines life will be a little quieter after his dual success in solving The Affinity Bridge affair. But he hasn't banked on the reemergence of his villainous predecessor, Knox, who is hellbent on achieving immortality, and seems to be pursued by a secret agent who isn't quite as he seems.... The whole affair is so baffling that Newbury is reluctant to take time away from it to attend to the mysterious murders in the wake of the unveiling of an Egyptian mummy, let alone his partner Veronica's apparent obsession with tracking the growing pool of young women who have disappeared after being used as props in a magician's stage act. But it's all part of a day's work when your boss is the queen of England. So begins a thrilling steampunk mystery, the second in the series of Newbury & Hobbes investigations, and a grand adventure quite unlike any other.Newbury & Hobbes Investigation#1 The Affinity Bridge#2 The Osiris Ritual#3 The Immortality Engine#4 The Executioner's Heart#5 The Revenant Express
"Pitch Dark is a propulsive, layered, and brutal read. . . . A reader can't hope for more than to discover a writer possessed of both true talent and true passion. Discover Steven Sidor."---Michael Koryta, author of The Cypress HouseIt's Christmas Eve, and Vera Coffey is on the run. She doesn't know the men who are after her. She has never seen them before, but she has seen the horrors they visit on people who don't give them what they want. Vera has something they want badly. She'd give it up if it weren't the only thing keeping her alive. The Larkins have known the toll violence takes on a family ever since they were trapped in a madman's shooting rampage. They've been coping with the trauma for nearly twenty years. Now, on a cold and lonely winter morning, Vera collapses at their roadside motel. And she's brought something with her. Together they'll have to make one last stand against an evil that has followed them further than anyone could've imagined.With a thriller so fast-paced that it's impossible to let go and an ominous sense that everything is destined to go wrong, Pitch Dark is an intense read from a master of suspense.
From Hugo Award Winner S. L. Huang S. L. Huang is amazing.--Patrick Rothfuss Burning Roses is a gorgeous fairy tale of love and family, of demons and lost gods, for fans of Zen Cho and Neon Yang. Rosa, also known as Red Riding Hood, is done with wolves and woods. Hou Yi the Archer is tired, and knows she's past her prime. They would both rather just be retired, but that's not what the world has ready for them. When deadly sunbirds begin to ravage the countryside, threatening everything they've both grown to love, the two must join forces. Now blessed and burdened with the hindsight of middle age, they begin a quest that's a reckoning of sacrifices made and mistakes mourned, of choices and family and the quest for immortality.
Ken Olson thought he had it all-a loving wife, a beautiful baby, and a career on the fast track. But soon after his big promotion, his whole world is shattered by a monstrous crime. A crime committed by the CEO of his own company. A crime his company will cover up at any cost.Stripped of everything but his passion to bring the CEO to justice, Olson uncovers the dark and dangerous world behind the corporate jets and executive mansions-the private armies of mercenary killers who do the corporation's dirtiest work under the guise of "plausible deniability," the offshore banking havens with their clandestine black-hole accounts, and the relentless greed of the lucky few at the top.Olson's struggle pits him against a host of deadly rivals-the most brutal killer in the international private military underworld, the network anchorwoman with a beautiful face and not a hint of conscience, the aristocrat who pulls the strings of power and never dirties his hands, the hot young actress who makes sex a tool of deception, and, of course, his own chief executive, a bloodthirsty psychopath who has hijacked the corner office.Set against the backdrop of today's business world, where mega-mergers slash thousands of jobs and yield million-dollar executive payouts, Evil, Inc. is a thrilling, ticking time bomb of a story-a tale of one man's fight against the vicious, backstabbing politics of the corporation, where ruthless power mongers rule and human life counts for nothing against the bottom line.
"A mesmerizing study of books by despots great and small, from the familiar to the largely unknown."-The Washington PostA darkly humorous tour of "dictator literature" in the twentieth century, featuring the soul-killing prose and poetry of Hitler, Mao, and many more, which shows how books have sometimes shaped the world for the worseSince the days of the Roman Empire dictators have written books. But in the twentieth-century despots enjoyed unprecedented print runs to (literally) captive audiences. The titans of the genre-Stalin, Mussolini, and Khomeini among them-produced theoretical works, spiritual manifestos, poetry, memoirs, and even the occasional romance novel and established a literary tradition of boundless tedium that continues to this day.How did the production of literature become central to the running of regimes? What do these books reveal about the dictatorial soul? And how can books and literacy, most often viewed as inherently positive, cause immense and lasting harm? Putting daunting research to revelatory use, Daniel Kalder asks and brilliantly answers these questions. Marshalled upon the beleaguered shelves of The Infernal Library are the books and commissioned works of the century's most notorious figures. Their words led to the deaths of millions. Their conviction in the significance of their own thoughts brooked no argument. It is perhaps no wonder then, as Kalder argues, that many dictators began their careers as writers.
Set against the backdrop of a society trying to come to grips with the possibility of a world beyond, Sophie Cameron's young adult debut, Out of the Blue, is the story of how one unexpected turn of events can put you on a path toward healing. When otherworldly beings start falling from the sky, it seems like the end of days are near-but for one girl, it's just the beginning of an adventure that will change her life.Jaya's life has completely fallen apart. Her mother is dead, her dad is on an obsessive wild goose chase, and mysterious winged beings are falling from the sky. For the past nine months, none of the them have survived the plummet to Earth, but when a female being lands near Jaya-and is still alive-she doesn't call the authorities. She hides the being and tries to nurse her back to health.Praise for Out of the Blue:"The hottest queer YA book of the season." -Entertainment Weekly"Equal parts humorous fish-out-of-water story and poignant coming-of-age tale. . .Jaya is a vividly sketched, relatable character whose brave decisions encourage readers to embrace life and be true to themselves." -Publishers Weekly
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