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Too Soon for Flowers
by Margaret MilesLust, deceit, and murder bloom in old New England....Spring, 1764. While the specter of smallpox stalks colonial Boston, much of the city seeks refuge in the burgeoning countryside. Restful, bucolic Bracebridge is one such haven, and young widow Charlotte Willett and her neighbor Richard Longfellow, scientist and gentleman farmer, host a handful of guests undergoing the generally accepted procedure of inoculation.Yet shortly after the quarantine begins, one of the patients is found dead and Charlotte and Richard are thrust into a whirl of rumor, conjecture, and fear. What, if not smallpox, caused the patient's untimely demise? Has the distraught physician in charge something to conceal? And who might have risked contagion to commit murder? Before these questions can be answered, another shocking death occurs.Now, as some superstitious townsfolk blame both the Pox and the Devil, Charlotte and Richard are determined to follow logic and reason to the all too human source of the problem. But can they arrive at the truth before another victim is claimed?From the Paperback edition.
No Rest for the Dove
by Margaret MilesThe dead tell no tales....It is the summer of 1765, and Charlotte Willett is enjoying the balmy languor of Bracebridge with her cultured neighbor, Richard Longfellow. But their peaceful routine shatters with the arrival of Richard's elegant friend from abroad.Known as Il Colombo--the Dove--Gian Carlo Lahte is an Italian singer who soon holds the local ladies spellbound. Not even Charlotte is immune to his charms. Though he seems to carry more than a hint of scandal with him, on the day he arrives tavern talk in Bracebridge turns to a more homegrown mystery: a corpse found on the Boston road--his body reeking of liquor, his identity unknown.Charlotte can't help but wonder why Signore Lahte is so shaken by the sight of the victim--and why the dead man's boots and buttons are quickly stolen! As she and Longfellow ponder these matters, further arrivals transform their rustic oasis into a stage for turbulent drama--where any player's performance could be a deadly swan song....From the Paperback edition.
The Secret Marriage of Sherlock Holmes
by Michael AtkinsonThe Secret Marriage of Sherlock Holmesis about reading, a process that we take for granted. But Sherlock Holmes, the cultural icon to whose exploits Michael Atkinson gives new readings, became famous by taking nothing for granted. Holmes's adventures can be read in new ways, including ways that he himself would have found startling, but which can give contemporary readers satisfaction. In clear, accessible prose that will engage specialists and lay readers alike, Atkinson engages in "a series of flirtations" with nine of Arthur Conan Doyle's favorite detective fictions, using the tools of modern literary theory, from depth psychology to deconstruction. Bluebeard, the kundalini serpent, and Conan Doyle's mother pop up alongside Jung, Nietzsche, and Derrida as guides to new understandings of these classic stories. Just as Holmes uses treatises on tobacco ash and tattoos to give fresh readings to puzzling facts, Atkinson employs widely different critical strategies to unravel the mysteries of reading itself. "What a delightful book! This is surely the most interesting writing you will ever read about Sherlock Holmes, but it is much more. Michael Atkinson gives us literary criticism at its best: the sheer fun of watching a bold and imaginative reader breathe into well-loved, but well-worn, fictions new and enchanting life. Atkinson's mind races as nimbly as Holmes's own, and he makes the stories our hansom cab through human nature itself. A tour de force!" --Norman N. Holland, author ofMurder in a Dephi Seminar "A book that speaks directly to readers. . . Atkinson sees far beneath the surface of the Sherlock stories to provide fascinating commentary. " --Cincinnati Post "Atkinson demonstrates a love and knowledge of the Holmes stories. . . I would recommend The Secret Marriage of Sherlock Holmes enthusiastically to any lover of the Canon who is prepared to have their perceptions widened. " --Mystery Writers of America Michael Atkinson is Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Cincinnati. For additional news, reviews and related Sherlockiana (leaving Press site): Additional information supplied by the author- http://ucaswww. mcm. uc. edu/English/Holmes/ http://ucaswww. mcm. uc. edu/English/Holmes/"
The Underground Man
by Ross MacdonaldAs a mysterious fire rages through the hills above a privileged town in Southern California, Archer tracks a missing child who may be the pawn in a marital struggle or the victim of a bizarre kidnapping. What he uncovers amid the ashes is murder--and a trail of motives as combustible as gasoline. The Underground Man is a detective novel of merciless suspense and tragic depth, with an unfaltering insight into the moral ambiguities at the heart of California's version of the American dream.If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler, it was Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Sleeping Beauty
by Ross MacdonaldIn Sleeping Beauty, Lew Archer finds himself the confidant of a wealthy, violent family with a load of trouble on their hands--including an oil spill, a missing girl, a lethal dose of Nembutal, a six-figure ransom, and a stranger afloat, face down, off a private beach. Here is Ross Macdonald's masterful tale of buried memories, the consequences of arrogance, and the anguished relations between parents and their children. Riveting, gritty, tautly written, Sleeping Beauty is crime fiction at its best.If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it is Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his pre-decessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Captains Outrageous
by Joe R. LansdaleHap Collins and Leonard Pine find mucho trouble, this time in Mexico, when they come face to face with a nudist mobster, his seven-foot strong-arm, a octogenarian knife-touting fisherman, and, somehow, an armadillo. When Hap Collins saves the life of his employer's daughter, he is rewarded with a Caribbean Cruise, and he convinces his best friend Leonard Pine to come along. However, when the cruise sails on without them, stranding them in Playa del Carmen with nothing but their misfortune and Leonard's new ridiculous hat, the two quickly find themselves drawn into a vicious web of sordid violence. When they return to East Texas, they find that trouble has beaten them back, and when trouble's around it doesn't take long for Hap and Leonard to find it.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Princess of the Fillmore Street School
by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat Mitchell Sharmat"I, Nate the Great, have something to say. My cousin Olivia Sharp is almost (but not quite) the world's best detective. I solve mysteries. She's an agent for secrets. You won't forget Olivia. She won't let you."Olivia sharp is back! Rather than solve mysteries like her cousin Nate, Olivia helps friends with their problems by detecting what's wrong beneath the surface. You'll be won over by Olivia's spunk, eccentricities, and can-do spirit.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Eve of Saint Hyacinth (Roger the Chapman #5)
by Kate SedleyA book in the Roger the Chapman mystery series.
Remains Silent
by Linda Kenney Michael BadenWhen a body is found beneath a construction site near the Catskill Mountains, New York City deputy chief medical examiner Jake Rosen is called to the scene, where he meets his match: Philomena "Manny" Manfreda, a beautiful crusading attorney. Together they stumble upon a decades-old mystery involving a long-shuttered mental institution, shocking medical experiments, and a troubled love affair.From the Paperback edition.
Stormy Weather
by Paula L. WoodsDespite her education and training, Charlotte Justice has concluded that being a black female in the Los Angeles Police Department is no day at the beach. Instead, the elite homicide detective's days are filled with incompetence, bigotry, and the mayhem of the streets. First, Charlotte confronts the work of a self-styled "angel of mercy" that her colleagues helped convict . . . and who may have an active accomplice still at large. And now she faces the baffling case of Maynard Duncan, a pioneering African American film director and community activist who was all but forgotten--until he was found dead in his elegant Hancock Park home. Was it an accident, murder, or suicide--by his own hand or with assistance? As Charlotte unravels Duncan's tangled web of relationships--family, friends, business associates, and secret liaisons--she finds herself on a journey from Hollywood myth to L. A. reality. It's a journey where Charlotte must risk everything--her career, her relationships, even her life--to hunt down a murderer hell-bent on exacting the ultimate revenge. . . . From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Tutor
by Peter AbrahamsMaster of psychological suspense Peter Abrahams returns with an ingenious tale of an ordinary family that unknowingly invites the agent of their destruction into their own home. When Scott and Linda Gardner hire Julian Sawyer to tutor their troubled teenage son Brandon, he seems like the answer to a prayer. Capable and brilliant, Julian connects with Brandon in a way neither of his parents can. He also effortlessly helps Linda to salvage a troubled business deal and gives Scott expert advice on his tennis game. Only eleven-year old Ruby--funny, curious, devoted to Sherlock Holmes--has doubts about the stranger in their midst who has so quickly become like a member of the family. But even the observant Ruby is far from understanding Julian's true designs on the Gardners. For Julian, the Gardners are like specimens in jars, creatures to be studied-- and manipulated. Scott is a gambler with no notion of odds, festering in the shadow of his more successful brother. Linda is ambitious, hungry for the cultured stimulation Julian easily provides. Brandon is risking his future late at night in the town woods. And Ruby--well, she's just a silly little girl. And in that miscalculation lies the Gardner family's only possible salvation. In The Tutor, Peter Abrahams creates a living, breathing portrait of an American family, their town, their secrets, their dreams--and a portrait just as compelling of the menace they welcome into their home. It is his most chilling, suspenseful novel to date. From the Hardcover edition.
The Valentine's Day Murder (Christine Bennett Mystery #8)
by Lee HarrisWhat really happened that tragic Valentine's night on Lake Erie? No one knows. Three old buddies--reckless Matty, successful Clark, clever Val--decided to cap Val's birthday celebration with a stroll across the frozen lake. They never returned. Matty's scarf was found snagged on broken ice. After the thaw, only the bodies of Clark and Matty are recovered--the latter with a bullet in it. Val remains missing, now a murder suspect. His desperate wife pleads with ex-nun investigator Christine Bennett to find him and prove his innocence.A tall order, especially when Chris starts hunting for clues in the lives of these respectable suburbanites and their wives. And when she closes in on a truth that chills her to the bone, she suddenly finds herself skating on very thin ice.
The St. Patrick's Day Murder (Christine Bennett Mystery #4)
by Lee HarrisAn off-duty police officer is shot and ex-nun Chris Bennett and her police-detective boyfriend find this motiveless murder puzzling. Praying for a break, Chris pursues a killer along strange paths: a pilgrimage that takes her from a suburban convent to a Brooklyn fruit market, and deep into the sacrosanct world of the NYPD--and ultimately back to the deadly place where it all began.From the Paperback edition.
The Christening Day Murder (Christine Bennett Mystery #3)
by Lee HarrisFormer nun Christine Bennett is looking forward to the christening of her friend Maddie's baby. But when she goes to the church basement of the town that was flooded out thirty years before, Christine stumbles upon the skeletal remains of a body--the grim result of a thirty-year old murder. Trying to sort out the sordid puzzle from the past, Christine manages to unravel the dark secrets of the once close-knit community, and also reveals a killer who's not afraid to kill again.
A Clue for the Puzzle Lady (Puzzle Lady #1)
by Parnell HallCruciverbalists, rejoice!!! Pick up a pencil and get ready to solve the puzzle--and a puzzling murder--in this lively debut of a unique amateur detective, Miss Cora Felton, the reigning queen of crosswords. Cora's an eccentric old lady with a nationally syndicated puzzle column, an irresistible urge to poke into unsettling events, and a niece who's determined to keep her out of trouble. In a slyly amusing and wickedly suspenseful mystery, this delightful heroine takes her first crack at playing sleuth. Only this isn't fun and games....It's murder.Violent crime is rare in tiny Bakerhaven. When the body of an unknown teenage girl turns up in the local cemetery, Police Chief Dale Harper finds himself investigating his first homicide. Nothing about this case is straightforward. Even a thorough search of the crime scene fails to reveal who she was, the murder weapon, or why the killer left her body in a graveyard minus her shoes. A cryptic message on a scrap of paper she carried seems to be a crossword puzzle clue. Could it have been left by the killer? If so, what does it mean?Fortunately for Harper, Bakerhaven is the new home of Miss Cora Felton, the famed "Puzzle Lady" herself, whose popular crossword puzzle column graces newspapers nationwide. Yet bringing Cora Felton into this case could be his most costly mistake. For though she may look like someone's sweet old grandmother, behind those twinkling eyes and that slightly mysterious smile lies a woman with a whopping secret...and some hidden vices. What's worse, one whiff of mystery turns Miss Felton into a modern-day Miss Marple.Now Cora is snooping through crime scenes, questioning witnesses, and gaining a lot of unwanted attention. It's just the sort of meddling, mischief-making behavior that drives Chief Harper to distraction and inspires many cross words from her long-suffering niece Sherry. But when another body turns up in a murder that hits much closer to home, Cora must find a killer--before she winds up in a black box three feet across...and six down.A delicious brew of colorful characters, irresistible intrigue, and dazzling plot twists, Parnell Hall's A Clue for the Puzzle Lady is just what a mystery should be--a generous helping of fun and a puzzle that never fails to surprise and entertain.From the Hardcover edition.
Puzzled to Death (Puzzle Lady #3)
by Parnell HallMiss Cora Felton, the eccentric amateur detective better known as the Puzzle Lady, likes nothing better than to solve a good mystery-and this time she's got a killer on her hands. What isn't puzzling is why critics agree that "Cora is emerging as a lovable and unique sleuth" (Chicago Sun-Times) in "a fun series for mystery fans and cruciverbalists" (USA Today).Bakerhaven, Connecticut, seems like the ideal place to host a charity crossword-puzzle tournament-after all, the town is home to Cora Felton, the beloved puzzle columnist known as the Puzzle Lady. A slew of celebrity contestants are on the way. And the locals have been invited to challenge the veteran puzzlers head-on. But soon the town's attention is fixated on something far more controversial than crosswords...when the body of the town tart is discovered lying dead on her kitchen floor. Before anyone can stop her, Cora is hot on the trail of the truth, interviewing nosy neighbors, digging up dirt, and drawing out a lonely recluse who just may hold the key to cracking the crime. But will she solve the case before the contest comes to a deadly end? Cora once again proves that sleuthing spells S-U-S-P-E-N-S-E-up, across, and down!From the Paperback edition.
Margaret's Peace
by Linda HallAfter the death of her only daughter and the subsequent breakup of her marriage, Margaret Collingwood returns to her home in Coffins Reach, Maine, and to the seafront house she has inherited. She goes there to rest, to paint, and to find the God she has lost. Instead, she is thrust back twenty-five years and must relive the accidental death of her sister and face her family's long-buried secrets.The old family home shrouded in the secrets of the past... When Margaret Collinwood inherits her childhood home in Coffins Reach, Maine, she returns to the seafront house hoping to rest, to paint, and to find the peace she has lost after the death of her daughter and the subsequent breakup of her marriage. But Margaret's return to her family home forces her to face difficult childhood memories surrounding the fatal accicdent that took the life of her sister twenty-five years earlier. As Margaret begins to examine the past, strange things start happening in the present. As she moves between her childhood memories,the ghostly legends surrounding her historic house, and the trendy cafes of the Maine coast, Margaret uncovers the truth hidden in long-buried family secrets. And in facing the past, she finds new hope for her future.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Sadie's Song
by Linda HallLinda Hall's thrilling fiction, which confronts the toll domestic violence takes within American homes and explores how the church might address it, melds contemporary characters with a powerful story's punch. Sadie's Song opens with the disappearance of nine-year-old Ally Buckley, which bears too much resemblance to two recent and chilling events. As fear spreads throughout the New England fishing village of Bowden's Landing and the local church that Sadie and her family attend, she discovers a drawing by Ally among her abusive husband's possessions-and odd evidence that danger may be closer to home than she'd ever known.A mysterious disappearance...A family in tumult...Volatile surroundings...Can one woman connct the pieces in time? When nine-year-old Ally Buckley turns up missing, fear spreads throughout the New England fishing village where Sadie and her family live and worship. But when Saide discovers one of Ally's drawings among her husband's possessions, she suspects danger may be closer to home than she had ever known.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Spy's Bedside Book
by Graham Greene Hugh GreeneFor everyone who's ever wondered what it really takes to be a spy, legendary author Graham Greene (The Third Man, The Quiet American) and his brother Hugh have compiled this irresistible selection of fiction, memoir, and tricks of the trade straight from the all-time masters of espionage. Here is a perfectly safe way to discover the dangerous secrets many spies have died to learn. Want to know how to hide a map of an enemy fort in a butterfly sketch? Wonder why James Bond himself advises always drinking vodka with pepper? Who hasn't fantasized about being a secret agent or been captivated by the mysterious lore of spycraft? From the words of William Blake, D. H. Lawrence, and Thomas Mann--all suspected of spying in three great wars--to classic espionage stories by Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Eric Ambler, Ian Fleming, and Graham Greene himself, this fascinating compendium of all things spy makes the perfect companion for the armchair agent in all of us. If this book divulged any more secrets, it would've had to be written with invisible ink. (Find out how to make your own inside!)
Sudden Death
by Rita Mae BrownOutrageous, irrepressible and endlessly entertaining, the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Bingo spins a behind-the-scenes tale of women's professional tennis that dramatically intertwines the heart-stopping excitement of competition and the lingering heartache of intimate human bonds. Carmen Semanan loves three things passionately: tennis, money and professor Harriet Rawls. Just twenty-four, Carmen is at her peak as one of the world's top-seeded tennis champions, determined to win the coveted Grand Slam. She is protected from everything but the grueling demands of her sport by an avaricious agent and her devoted gusty Harriet. All the odds are in her favor. But there are weeds growing in her paradise patch. Carmen's very Latin brother, Miguel, parlays her success into a financial house of cards with deals that include smuggling, forgery, and fraud. Susan Reilly, Carmen's arch-rival and former lover, leaks word of Carms's relationship with Harriet to the press--and tennis's best-kept secret is blown into a front-page scandal. From the French Open to Wimbledon, jealousies, ambitions and passions are set to explode. Now, with everything she cherishes on the line, Carmen must test the true depths of her feelings--both on and off the court.
Drawing Blood
by Poppy Z. BriteEscaping from his North Carolina home after his father murders their family and commits suicide, Trevor McGee returns to confront the past, and finds himself haunted by the same demons that drove his father to insanity.
How to Write a Mystery
by Larry BeinhartWHODUNIT? YOUDUNIT!So you want to write a mystery. There's more to it than just a detective, a dead body, and Colonel Mustard in the drawing room with the candlestick. Fortunately, Larry Beinhart--Edgar Award-winning author of You Get What You Pay For, Foreign Exchange, and American Hero--has taken a break from writing smart, suspenseful thrillers to act as your guide through all the twists and turns of creating the twists and turns of a good mystery. Drawing on advice and examples from a host of the best names in mystery writing--from Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane to Scott Turow and Thomas Harris--plus some of his own prime plots, Larry Beinhart introduces you to your most indispensable partners in crime: *Character, plot, and procedure * The secrets to creating heroes, heroines, and villains ("All writers draw upon themselves and their experience. While the whole of yourself might not be capable of being either a serial killer or an FBI agent, there are parts in each of us that are capable of almost anything.") * The fine art of scripting the sex scene *The low-down on violence ("A crime novel without violence is like smoking pot without inhaling, sex without orgasm, or a hug without a squeeze." ) *And much more!From the opening hook to the final denouement, Larry Beinhart takes the mystery out of being a mystery writer.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Buried Alive
by Gloria Skurzynski Alane FergusonWho was that man in the Park Service uniform who brought Jack and Ashley Landon into the wilds of Alaska's Denali National Park along with their friend Nicky Milano? Whoever he was, he has given them a dogsled ride to certain death unless somebody finds them soon. Their troubles are about to get a whole heap deeper as the first rumblings of an avalanche turn into a deafening roar!
40
by Travis ThrasherNine months shy of hs 40th birthday, freelance music producer Tyler Harrison has started to experience horrific hallucinations. At first, he thinks it's just the stress of his job, but the hallucinations continue until they culminate at the three-day concert in Chicago, Lollapalloza, which he is covering for work. There he is approached by an older man who tells him that he's going to die on his fortieth birthday. The man claims to be an angel named Matthew, and even though he gives Tyler enough evidence to convince him he's telling the truth, he doesn't know what to do with the information. Tyler's underlying doubt and confusion about Matthew's prediction turn to anger, both at God and those around him. As he begins to exhibit destructive behavior, he befriends Ellis, an internationally known DJ. Tyler is scared that he really is about to die. He's scared for his sanity. He's scared that if he does die, he's not going to Heaven. He also soon becomes scared of Ellis, who is wild and opens up a door of temptation to Tyler. As Tyler begins falling in a downward spiral of fear and confusion, he reaches out to a pastor he met, Will, and tries to right his wrongs with some of the important people in his life in a desperate attempt to find peace before his 40th birthday.
Ghosts of Albion #1: Accursed
by Christopher Golden Amber BensonEven death could not stop Britain's greatest defenders.In 1838, William and Tamara Swift inherit a startling legacy from their dying grandfather, transforming them into the Protectors of Albion, mystical defenders of the soul of England. But the shocked, neophyte sorcerers also inherit unique allies in their battle against the dark forces. Fighting alongside them are the famous-even infamous-Ghosts of Albion: Lord Byron, Queen Bodicea, and Lord Admiral Nelson.When strange and hideous creatures appear in the slums of London, an unholy plague threatens to launch an epic battle that may rage all the way to Buckingham Palace . . . and beyond. Time is running out as William and Tamara must learn whether their friends will stand beside them, or seduce and betray them.From Amber Benson, known for her dramatic portrayal of Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Christopher Golden, Bram Stoker Award--winning author of The Shadow Saga and Wildwood Road, comes a vengeful tale of demons, vampires, and ghosts set in nineteenth-century London. Based on the smash BBC Web series that took England by storm, Ghosts of Albion is a horror adventure laced with dark humor and darker lusts.From the Trade Paperback edition.