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Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind
by Michael MassingA deeply textured dual biography and fascinating intellectual history that examines two of the greatest minds of European history—Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther—whose heated rivalry gave rise to two enduring, fundamental, and often colliding traditions of philosophical and religious thought.Erasmus of Rotterdam was the leading figure of the Northern Renaissance. At a time when Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael were revolutionizing Western art and culture, Erasmus was helping to transform Europe’s intellectual and religious life, developing a new design for living for a continent rebelling against the hierarchical constraints of the Roman Church. When in 1516 he came out with a revised edition of the New Testament based on the original Greek, he was hailed as the prophet of a new enlightened age. Today, however, Erasmus is largely forgotten, and the reason can be summed up in two words: Martin Luther. As a young friar in remote Wittenberg, Luther was initially a great admirer of Erasmus and his critique of the Catholic Church, but while Erasmus sought to reform that institution from within, Luther wanted a more radical transformation. Eventually, the differences between them flared into a bitter rivalry, with each trying to win over Europe to his vision.In Fatal Discord, Michael Massing seeks to restore Erasmus to his proper place in the Western tradition. The conflict between him and Luther, he argues, forms a fault line in Western thinking—the moment when two enduring schools of thought, Christian humanism and evangelical Christianity, took shape. A seasoned journalist who has reported from many countries, Massing here travels back to the early sixteenth century to recover a long-neglected chapter of Western intellectual life, in which the introduction of new ways of reading the Bible set loose social and cultural forces that helped shatter the millennial unity of Christendom and whose echoes can still be heard today. Massing concludes that Europe has adopted a form of Erasmian humanism while America has been shaped by Luther-inspired individualism.
Fatal Dive: Solving the World War II Mystery of the USS Grunion
by Peter F. StevensFatal Dive: Solving the World War II Mystery of the USS Grunion by Peter F. Stevens reveals the incredible true story of the search for and discovery of the USS Grunion. <P><P>Discovered in 2006 after a decades-long, high-risk search by the Abele brothers-whose father commanded the submarine and met his untimely death aboard it-one question remained: what sank the USS Grunion? Was it a round from a Japanese ship, a catastrophic mechanical failure, or something else-one of the sub's own torpedoes? <P><P>For almost half the war, submarine skippers' complaints about the MK 14 torpedo's dangerous flaws were ignored by naval brass, who sent the subs out with the defective weapon. <P><P>Fatal Dive is the first book that documents the entire saga of the ship and its crew and provides compelling evidence that the Grunion was a victim of "The Great Torpedo Scandal of 1941-43." Fatal Dive finally lays to rest one of World War II's greatest mysteries.
Fatal Elixir: A Lobo Blacke-quinn Booker Mystery (The Lobo Blacke/Quinn Booker Mysteries #2)
by William L. DeAndreaIn the Old West, Lobo Blacke and Quinn Booker confront a killer potion, and a fugitive bent on paybackIn the Wyoming Territory town of Le Four, Lobo Blacke used to be a legendary lawman, until the day an ambush left him confined to a wheelchair. Now he runs a newspaper with onetime New Yorker Booker Quinn, who also helped pen the great man&’s memoirs. But now Le Four is shaken by rumors that Paul Muller—a bank and train robber whom Blacke helped lock up—might be headed back to town to settle old accounts. And the same week, fourteen people suddenly drop dead after sipping Ozono, a concoction sold by a traveling medicine show. The brew&’s casualties include the town&’s sheriff, and without him, Quinn and Blacke must prepare to face the fiendish Muller, and discover the connection between the elixir and the fugitive.
The Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization, 1800–1890 (Mythology of the American West)
by Richard SlotkinA two-time National Book Award finalist&’s &“ambitious and provocative&” look at Custer&’s Last Stand, capitalism, and the rise of the cowboys-and-Indians legend (The New York Review of Books). In The Fatal Environment, historian Richard Slotkin demonstrates how the myth of frontier expansion and subjugation of Native Americans helped justify the course of America&’s rise to wealth and power. Using Custer&’s Last Stand as a metaphor for what Americans feared might happen if the frontier should be closed and the &“savage&” element be permitted to dominate the &“civilized,&” Slotkin shows the emergence by 1890 of a mythos redefined to help Americans respond to the confusion and strife of industrialization and imperial expansion. &“A clearly written, challenging and provocative work that should prove enormously valuable to serious students of American history.&” —The New York Times &“[An] arresting hypothesis.&” —Henry Nash Smith, American Historical Review
Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary
by Gail JarrowIn the early 1900s, when typhoid fever was killing tens of thousands of Americans each year, Mary Mallon was employed as a cook by several well-to-do New York families. <P><P>When some members of these households developed the disease, suspicion turned to Mary. Did she have anything to do with the spread of the deadly bacteria? <P>Here is the gripping, true story of Typhoid Mary; the epidemiologist who discovered her trail of infection; and the health department that decided her fate. Fatal Fever will keep readers on the edges of their seats as they wonder what will happen next. <P>Award-winning science and history writer Gail Jarrow brings her expertise to this engrossing medical mystery. Extensive back matter includes a glossary, a timeline, and a list of well-known typhoid sufferers and victims.
A Fatal Finale (An Ella Shane Mystery #1)
by Kathleen Marple KalbOn the cusp of the twentieth century, Manhattan is a lively metropolis buzzing with talent. But after a young soprano meets an untimely end on stage, can one go-getting leading lady hit the right notes in a case of murder? New York City, 1899. When it comes to show business, Gilded Age opera singer Ella Shane wears the pants. The unconventional diva breaks the mold by assuming &“trouser roles&”—male characters played by women—and captivating audiences far and wide with her travelling theatre company. But Ella&’s flair for the dramatic takes a terrifying turn when an overacting Juliet to her Romeo drinks real poison during the final act of Bellini&’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Weeks after the woman&’s death is ruled a tragic accident, a mysterious English duke arrives in Greenwich Village on a mission. He&’s certain someone is getting away with murder, and the refined aristocrat won&’t travel back across the Atlantic until Ella helps him expose the truth. As Ella finds herself caught between her craft and a growing infatuation with her dashing new acquaintance, she&’s determined to decode the dark secrets surrounding her co-star&’s fatale finale—before the lights go dark and the culprit appears for an encore . . . [Author Photo] Kathleen Marple Kalb lives with her family in Cheshire, Connecticut. She&’s currently a weekend morning anchor at New York's 1010WINS Radio, capping a career she began as a teenage DJ in rural Western Pennsylvania. She&’s currently working on the next Ella Shane historical mystery. Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com
A Fatal First Night (An Ella Shane Mystery #2)
by Kathleen Marple KalbIt&’s easy to be overlooked in Gilded Age Manhattan, but the Ella Shane Opera Company&’s latest premier manages to attract adoring crowds, rave reviews, and a killer who&’s a real showstopper! New York City, Fall 1899. Ahead-of-her-time coloratura mezzo Ella Shane has always known opening night to be a mess of missed cues and jittery nerves, especially when unveiling a new opera. Her production of The Princes in the Tower, based on the mysterious disappearance of Edward IV&’s two sons during the Wars of the Roses in England, concludes its first performance to thunderous applause. It&’s not until players take their bows that the worst kind of disaster strikes . . . Flawless basso Albert Reuter is found lurched over a bloody body in his dressing room, seemingly taking inspiration from his role as the murderous Richard III. With a disturbing homicide case stealing the spotlight, Ella can&’t be so certain Albert is the one who belongs behind bars . . . Now, Ella must think on her feet while sorting out a wild series of puzzling mishaps and interlocking mysteries. Yet even when sided with her aristocratic beau, does this scrappy diva have the chops to upstage the true criminal, or will this be the last time she headlines a Broadway marquee?
The Fatal Flame
by Lyndsay FayeThe final installment in Lyndsay Faye's Timothy Wilde series, which Lee Child called "solid-gold" and Gillian Flynn declared "spectacular." No one in 1840s New York likes fires, copper star Timothy Wilde least of all. After a blaze killed his parents and another left him with a terrible scar, he has avoided flames of all kinds. So when a seamstress turned arsonist threatens Robert Symmes, a corrupt tycoon high in the Tammany Hall ranks, Timothy isn't thrilled that Symmes consults him. His dismay escalates when his audacious and charismatic older brother, Valentine, himself deeply politically entrenched, decides to run against the incumbent, who they suspect is guilty of assault and far darker crimes. Immediately after his brother's courageous declaration, Timothy finds himself surrounded by powerful enemies who threaten to harm those he cares about most. Meanwhile, the love of Timothy's life, Mercy Underhill, unexpectedly appears on his doorstep and takes under her wing a starving Irish orphan who may be the key to stopping the combustions threatening the city--if only they can make sense of her cryptic accounts. The closer they come to deciphering her wild tales of witches and angels, however, the closer Timothy comes to the fiery and shocking conclusion that forces him to face everything he fears most. A boisterous and suspenseful book from a master of historical adventure, The Fatal Flame is a tale for the ages.From the Hardcover edition.
The Fatal Flame
by Lyndsay FayeThe final installment in Lyndsay Faye's Timothy Wilde series, which Lee Child called "solid-gold" and Gillian Flynn declared "spectacular." No one in 1840s New York likes fires, copper star Timothy Wilde least of all. After a blaze killed his parents and another left him with a terrible scar, he has avoided flames of all kinds. So when a seamstress turned arsonist threatens Robert Symmes, a corrupt tycoon high in the Tammany Hall ranks, Timothy isn't thrilled that Symmes consults him. His dismay escalates when his audacious and charismatic older brother, Valentine, himself deeply politically entrenched, decides to run against the incumbent, who they suspect is guilty of assault and far darker crimes. Immediately after his brother's courageous declaration, Timothy finds himself surrounded by powerful enemies who threaten to harm those he cares about most. Meanwhile, the love of Timothy's life, Mercy Underhill, unexpectedly appears on his doorstep and takes under her wing a starving Irish orphan who may be the key to stopping the combustions threatening the city--if only they can make sense of her cryptic accounts. The closer they come to deciphering her wild tales of witches and angels, however, the closer Timothy comes to the fiery and shocking conclusion that forces him to face everything he fears most. A boisterous and suspenseful book from a master of historical adventure, The Fatal Flame is a tale for the ages.From the Hardcover edition.
Fatal Fortnight: Arthur Ponsonby and the Fight for British Neutrality 1914
by Duncan MarlorMuch has been published about how Britain's ruling circle came to its decision for war in 1914 but little about what rank and file Members of Parliament thought and did as the continental 'Armageddon' drew closer. Fatal Fortnight tells the story of Arthur Ponsonby, and his backbench Liberal Foreign Affairs Committee. The book describes the suspense around Parliament as the skies darkened. It tells how, after the Foreign Secretary made his proposal that Britain should go in, Ponsonby's friend Philip Morrell stood up and called for a general debate, in the teeth of the fury of those who wanted Britain to get straight into the war. It describes how the neutralists, led by Ponsonby, made their passionate case in the fateful hours as Britain hung between peace and war.The book looks at the concealment from Parliament of the military understanding with France, and the issues of war and democracy which are still with us today. It re-examines the arguments and reflects on how the world might have been had the 1914 decision gone a different way.Alongside the political drama a human story emerges of how family support for Ponsonby and his allies sustained them as the world closed in.
The Fatal Fortress: The Guns and Fortifications of Singapore 1819–1953
by Bill ClementsThe military historian presents a fascinating reassessment of Britain&’s Singapore Naval Base and the WWII Battle of Singapore. The Fall of Singapore in February 1942 was arguably the greatest disaster suffered by the British Empire. Between 1923 and 1938, the Singapore naval base had been upgraded with some of the largest coast guns ever installed. But the guns&’ design and incorrect siting have since been blamed for the humiliating loss during World War II. In The Fatal Fortress, Bill Clements traces the history of Singapore&’s armaments from the city&’s founding in 1819 to the demise of coast artillery in the British Army in 1953. He also follows the development of artillery through the Victorian era of muzzleloading guns to the introduction of breechloading guns in the twentieth century. Clements argues that it was not the siting of the guns that brought about the fall of Singapore, but an overall failure in command and control and a lack of suitable ammunition. This volume is illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings and plans, and contains a gazetteer describing all the batteries and forts, both existing and demolished. There is also an annex giving the details of the guns that were installed in Singapore.
Fatal Glamour: The Life of Rupert Brooke
by Paul DelanyRupert Brooke (b. 1887) died on April 23, 1915, two days before the start of the Battle of Gallipoli, and three weeks after his poem "The Soldier" was read from the pulpit of St Paul's Cathedral on Easter Sunday. Thus began the myth of a man whose poetry crystallizes the sentiments that drove so many to enlist and assured those who remained in England that their beloved sons had been absolved of their sins and made perfect by going to war. In Fatal Glamour, Paul Delany details the person behind the myth to show that Brooke was a conflicted, but magnetic figure. Strikingly beautiful and able to fascinate almost everyone who saw him - from Winston Churchill to Henry James - Brooke was sexually ambivalent and emotionally erratic. He had a series of turbulent affairs with women, but also a hidden gay life. He was attracted by the Fabian Society’s socialist idealism and Neo-Pagan innocence, but could be by turns nasty, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic. Brooke’s emotional troubles were acutely personal and also acutely typical of Edwardian young men formed by the public school system. Delany finds a thread of consistency in the character of someone who was so well able to move others, but so unable to know or to accept himself. A revealing biography of a singular personality, Fatal Glamour also uses Brooke’s life to shed light on why the First World War began and how it unfolded.
A Fatal Illusion (A Lady Darby Mystery #11)
by Anna Lee HuberNew parents Lady Kiera Darby and Sebastian Gage look forward to introducing Sebastian&’s father to his granddaughter, but instead find themselves investigating an attempt on his life...Yorkshire, England. August 1832. Relations between Sebastian Gage and his father have never been easy, especially since the discovery that Lord Gage has been concealing the existence of an illegitimate son. But when Lord Gage is nearly fatally attacked on a journey to Scotland, Sebastian and Kiera race to his side. Given the tumult over the recent passage of the Reform Bill and the Anatomy Act, in which Lord Gage played a part, Sebastian wonders if the attack could be politically motivated.But something suspicious is afoot in the sleepy village where Lord Gage is being cared for. The townspeople treat Sebastian and Kiera with hostility when it becomes clear they intend to investigate, and rumors of mysterious disappearances and highway robberies plague the area. Lord Gage&’s survival is far from assured, and Sebastian and Kiera must scramble to make the pieces fit before a second attempt at murder is more successful than the first.
Fatal Induction
by Bernadette PajerSeattle, 1901. The race to win an electrical competition incites Professor Bradshaw's obsession for invention in this sequel to A SPARK OF DEATH. The winner's telephonic system will deliver music of the Seattle Grand Theater to homes throughout the city, and Bradshaw is confident he can win. But a missing peddler and child divert him, while the assassination of President McKinley drops Bradshaw and the entire nation into shock. When Bradshaw discovers the peddler's child may have witnessed a murder, he follows her trail below Yesler Way, plunging into a seedy underworld of bars and brothels. Frustrated by the police department's apathy and caught between power struggles, he doesn't know who to trust. Each step of his investigation entangles him deeper in crime and corruption until he realizes that to save the peddler's child, he must transform his contest entry into a trap to catch a killer. The Professor Bradshaw Mystery Series features Benjamin Bradshaw, Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington. Bradshaw's electrical forensic and investigative skills, combined with a keen understanding of human nature, bring the Seattle Police, and murder, frequently to his doorstep during the social and scientific turmoil of the early twentieth century.
Fatal Inheritance: A Novel
by Rachel RhysGet swept away to the enchanting South of France with this “exquisite and shimmering” (Lisa Jewell, New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone) suspenseful historical novel, where perilous secrets lurk under the glitz and glam of seaside wealth. She didn’t have an enemy in the world…until she inherited a fortune. London 1948: Eve Forrester is stuck in a loveless marriage, isolated in her gray and gloomy house when out of the blue, she receives a letter. A wealthy stranger has left her a mysterious inheritance but in order to find out more, she must travel to the glittering French Riviera. There, Eve discovers she has been bequeathed an enchanting villa overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and suddenly, life could not be more glamorous. But while she rubs shoulders with the rich and famous, challengers to her unexplained fortune begin to emerge—challengers who would love to see Eve gone forever. Alone in paradise, Eve must unlock the story behind her surprise bequest—before her unexpected twist of fate turns deadly… With Rachel Rhys’s “thrilling, seductive, and utterly absorbing” (Paula Hawkins, #1 bestselling author of The Girl on the Train) prose, Fatal Inheritance is an intoxicating story of dysfunctional families and long-hidden secrets, set against the decadence of the Côte d’Azur.
Fatal Intentions: True Canadian Crime Stories
by Barbara SmithCanadians are very polite — but they also commit murder. And those who think that mass homicides and wanton killings are recent phenomena in Canada should treat themselves to Fatal Intentions. Using contemporary accounts, Barbara Smith vividly recreates a number of murder cases from 1920s Nova Scotia to 1980s British Columbia. Some, like the Boyd Gang adventures, are still remembered often inaccurately or romantically; others, like the murder of Flora Gray in Yarmouth, or the murder of twenty-three innocents in Quebec in 1949, can now be recalled by only a few. In some cases, the “truth” may exist only in dusty archives; in others, the truth may have gone to the graves of the victims — or the accused. Robert Cook’s killing spree — all seven in his family — in Stettler, Alberta, will probably be recounted, locally, for generations. But, did he do it? Toronto’s Boyd Gang boasted about hot cars and beautiful women — the stuff of folklore. And newspaper writers of that time were only too willing to add to the romantic tales. The last woman to be hanged in Canada, her disabled brother, and his employer all went to the gallows — two for greed, one for lust. These and other stories are part of our history — and often part of our folklore. They also can remind us that human nature doesn’t change easily, over decades or distances. Greed, lust, and other deadly sins can lead to fatal intentions, anytime, anywhere.
Fatal Isolation: The Devastating Paris Heat Wave of 2003
by Richard C. KellerIn a cemetery on the southern outskirts of Paris lie the bodies of nearly a hundred of what some have called the first casualties of global climate change. They were the so-called abandoned victims of the worst natural disaster in French history, the devastating heat wave that struck in August 2003, leaving 15,000 dead. They died alone in Paris and its suburbs, and were then buried at public expense, their bodies unclaimed. They died, and to a great extent lived, unnoticed by their neighbors--their bodies undiscovered in some cases until weeks after their deaths. Fatal Isolation tells the stories of these victims and the catastrophe that took their lives. It explores the multiple narratives of disaster--the official story of the crisis and its aftermath, as presented by the media and the state; the life stories of the individual victims, which both illuminate and challenge the ways we typically perceive natural disasters; and the scientific understandings of disaster and its management. Fatal Isolation is both a social history of risk and vulnerability in the urban landscape and a story of how a city copes with emerging threats and sudden, dramatic change.
Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson
by Peter MancallThe English explorer Henry Hudson devoted his life to the search for a water route through America, becoming the first European to navigate the Hudson River in the process. In Fatal Journey, acclaimed historian and biographer Peter C. Mancall narrates Hudson’s final expedition. In the winter of 1610, after navigating dangerous fields of icebergs near the northern tip of Labrador, Hudson’s small ship became trapped in winter ice. Provisions grew scarce and tensions mounted amongst the crew. Within months, the men mutinied, forcing Hudson, his teenage son, and seven other men into a skiff, which they left floating in the Hudson Bay. A story of exploration, desperation, and icebound tragedy, Fatal Journey vividly chronicles the undoing of the great explorer, not by an angry ocean, but at the hands of his own men.
The Fatal Land
by Prof. Matthew P. DziennikMore than 12,000 soldiers from the Highlands of Scotland were recruited to serve in Great Britain's colonies in the Americas in the middle to the late decades of the eighteenth century. In this compelling history, Matthew P. Dziennik corrects the mythologized image of the Highland soldier as a noble savage, a primitive if courageous relic of clanship, revealing instead how the Gaels used their military service to further their own interests and, in doing so, transformed the most maligned region of the British Isles into an important center of the British Empire.
Fatal Legacy (Flavia Albia)
by Lindsey DavisAn unpaid bar bill leads Flavia Albia to her most bitter and complex case yet. Decades earlier Appius Tranquillus Surus wrote his will: it freed his slaves and bequeathed his businesses to them. He left an orchard to the Prisci, a family he was friendly with, on the condition that his freedmen could still take its harvest. The convoluted arrangement has led to a feud between the two families, each of which has its own internal strife. Endless claims and counterclaims lead to violence and even death. Lawyers have given up in exasperation as the case limps on. The original will has disappeared, along with a falsified codicil - and might there be another one?But is there a solution? Two youngsters from each side of the divide, Gaius Venuleius and Cosca Sabatina, have fallen in love, which could unite the feuding families. There is only one problem: were Sabatina's grandmother and father really liberated in the Surus will? If not, the stigma of slavery will stop the marriage and the dispute will rage on forever.Reconciliation seems impossible, but Albia will try. Her investigation must cut through decades of secrets, arguments, lies and violence to reach a startling truth.Praise for Lindsey Davis and the Flavia Albia series'It positively crackles with knowledge of the city and its people, mixed with social comment, ingenious and bloody plots and sharp observational skills leavened by more than a smattering of genuine and sometimes earthy humour' Crime Review'Fiendishly twisted mystery' Mail on Sunday'Great fun, shot through with sharp observations' SHOTS'In this witty novel by the mistress of Roman crime, the reader is transported behind the scenes of a Triumph into a fascinating world of actors, costumiers and animal trainers, all united in their hatred of the murdered man' Sunday Express Magazine
Fatal Legacy (Flavia Albia)
by Lindsey DavisAn unpaid bar bill leads Flavia Albia to her most bitter and complex case yet. Decades earlier Appius Tranquillus Surus wrote his will: it freed his slaves and bequeathed his businesses to them. He left an orchard to the Prisci, a family he was friendly with, on the condition that his freedmen could still take its harvest. The convoluted arrangement has led to a feud between the two families, each of which has its own internal strife. Endless claims and counterclaims lead to violence and even death. Lawyers have given up in exasperation as the case limps on. The original will has disappeared, along with a falsified codicil - and might there be another one?But is there a solution? Two youngsters from each side of the divide, Gaius Venuleius and Cosca Sabatina, have fallen in love, which could unite the feuding families. There is only one problem: were Sabatina's grandmother and father really liberated in the Surus will? If not, the stigma of slavery will stop the marriage and the dispute will rage on forever.Reconciliation seems impossible, but Albia will try. Her investigation must cut through decades of secrets, arguments, lies and violence to reach a startling truth.Praise for Lindsey Davis and the Flavia Albia series'It positively crackles with knowledge of the city and its people, mixed with social comment, ingenious and bloody plots and sharp observational skills leavened by more than a smattering of genuine and sometimes earthy humour' Crime Review'Fiendishly twisted mystery' Mail on Sunday'Great fun, shot through with sharp observations' SHOTS'In this witty novel by the mistress of Roman crime, the reader is transported behind the scenes of a Triumph into a fascinating world of actors, costumiers and animal trainers, all united in their hatred of the murdered man' Sunday Express Magazine
Fatal Legacy (Flavia Albia)
by Lindsey DavisThe next witty, must-listen audiobook in the Flavia Albia series.An unpaid bar bill leads Flavia Albia to her most bitter and complex case yet. Decades earlier Appius Tranquillus Surus wrote his will: it freed his slaves and bequeathed his businesses to them. He left an orchard to the Prisci, a family he was friendly with, on the condition that his freedmen could still take its harvest. The convoluted arrangement has led to a feud between the two families, each of which has its own internal strife. Endless claims and counterclaims lead to violence and even death. Lawyers have given up in exasperation as the case limps on. The original will has disappeared, along with a falsified codicil - and might there be another one?But is there a solution? Two youngsters from each side of the divide, Gaius Venuleius and Cosca Sabatina, have fallen in love, which could unite the feuding families. There is only one problem: were Sabatina's grandmother and father really liberated in the Surus will? If not, the stigma of slavery will stop the marriage and the dispute will rage on forever.Reconciliation seems impossible, but Albia will try. Her investigation must cut through decades of secrets, arguments, lies and violence to reach a startling truth.Praise for Lindsey Davis and the Flavia Albia series'It positively crackles with knowledge of the city and its people, mixed with social comment, ingenious and bloody plots and sharp observational skills leavened by more than a smattering of genuine and sometimes earthy humour' Crime Review'Fiendishly twisted mystery' Mail on Sunday'Great fun, shot through with sharp observations' SHOTS(P) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Fatal Legacy: A Flavia Albia Novel (Flavia Albia Series #11)
by Lindsey DavisIn first century Rome, Flavia Albia takes on an easy case that soon proves to be anything but as, at every turn, bodies—old and new—dog her path.Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken over her father's business as a private informer. She only has two hard and fast rules - avoid political cases and family cases because nothing good comes of either of them. Unfortunately, since Albia isn't good at avoiding either, it's really more of a guideline. So when her Aunt Junia demands Albia track down a couple of deadbeats who owe her money, it's an offer Albia can't refuse.It turns out to be a relatively easy job, requiring only some half-hearted blackmail, and it leads to some new work - tracking down some essential paperwork for the debtor family. But nothing is truly easy in Rome - if Albia doesn't find the paperwork that proves that family's ancestor was a properly freed slave, the family could lose everything. The more she digs, the more skeletons she finds in their closet, until murder in the past leads to murder in the present. Now, it's serious, even deadly, and Albia has precious little time to uncover thetruth.
A Fatal Lie: A Novel (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries #23)
by Charles Todd“If there’s ever been a more complex and compelling hero in crime fiction than Inspector Rutledge, I can’t think of one.”—Jeffery Deaver In one of his most puzzling cases, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge must delve deep into a dead man’s life and his past to find a killer determined to keep dark secrets buried.A peaceful Welsh village is thrown into turmoil when a terrified boy stumbles on a body in a nearby river. The man appears to have fallen from the canal aqueduct spanning the valley. But there is no identification on the body, he isn’t a local, and no one will admit to having seen him before. With little to go on, the village police turn to Scotland Yard for help. When Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent from London to find answers, he is given few clues—a faded military tattoo on the victim’s arm and an unusual label in the collar of his shirt. They eventually lead him to the victim’s identity: Sam Milford. By all accounts, he was a good man and well-respected. Then, why is his death so mysterious? Looking for the truth, Rutledge uncovers a web of lies swirling around a suicidal woman, a child’s tragic fate, another woman bent on protecting her past. But where among all the lies is the motive for murder? To track a killer, Rutledge must retrace Milford’s last journey. Yet death seems to stalk his every move, and the truth seems to shift at every turn. Man or woman, this murderer stays in the shadows, and it will take desperate measures to lure him—or her—into the light.
A Fatal Likeness
by Lynn ShepherdWith The Solitary House, award-winning author Lynn Shepherd introduced readers to Charles Maddox, a brilliant private detective plying his trade on the gaslit streets of Dickensian London. Now, in this mesmerizing new novel of historical suspense, a mystery strikes disturbingly close to home--and draws Maddox into a world of literary legends, tormented souls, and a legacy of terrible secrets. When his great-uncle, the master detective who schooled him in the science of "thief taking," is mysteriously stricken, Charles Maddox fears that the old man's breakdown may be directly related to the latest case he's been asked to undertake. Summoned to the home of a stuffy nobleman and his imperious wife, Charles finds his investigative services have been engaged by no less than the son of celebrated poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his famed widow, Mary, author of the gothic classic Frankenstein. Approached by a stranger offering to sell a cache of rare papers allegedly belonging to the legendary late poet, the Shelley family seeks Maddox's aid in discovering whether the precious documents are authentic or merely the work of an opportunistic charlatan. But the true identity of his quarry is only the first of many surprises lying in wait for the detective. Hardly a conniving criminal, Claire Clairmont is in fact the stepsister of Mary Shelley, and their tortured history of jealousy, obsession, and dark deceit looms large over the affair Maddox must untangle. So, too, does the shadow of the brilliant, eccentric Percy Shelley, who found no rest from the private demons that pursued him. With each new detail unearthed, the investigation grows ever more disturbing. And when shocking evidence of foul play comes to light, Maddox's chilling hunt for the truth leads him into the blackest reaches of the soul. Steeped in finely wrought Victorian atmosphere, and rife with eye-opening historical revelations, A Fatal Likeness carries the reader ever deeper into a darkly magnetic tale of love and madness as utterly harrowing and heartbreaking as it is undeniably human.This eBook edition includes the complete text of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a classic novel that's referenced in A Fatal Likeness!Praise for Lynn Shepherd and A Fatal Likeness "As a piece of literary detective work, it's stimulating and hugely fun--even brilliant."--The Spectator "A potent mixture of passion, intrigue, perversion, and betrayal, exploring the lives of Shelley, Byron, and their Romantic intimates through a Gothic lens."--Lyndsay Faye, author of The Gods of Gotham "A wonderfully ingenious novel: perceptive, gripping, and fascinating."--Miranda Seymour, author of Mary Shelley "Shepherd sets a new standard of brilliance in historical fiction with A Fatal Likeness. Her summoning of dead souls--Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and their most intimate circle--is so psychologically penetrating, it feels like truth. Exquisitely rendered in Shepherd's pitch-perfect prose, this tale will haunt the reader long after its close."--Stephanie Barron, author of Jane and the Canterbury Tale "A literary thriller that weaves back and forth in time and gives some plausible answers to certain genuine biographical mysteries . . . [The novel's] conclusion has haunted me ever since I finished the book. But if you want to know what it is, you'll have to read it yourself."--The Independent