WHEN THE KILLER BECOMES THE TARGET. Competing for headlines with notorious serial killer Son of Sam in 1977, twenty-three-year-old Evie Eastway escalates her vigilante murder spree and is dubbed the Houdini Killer by the tabloids because of her uncanny ability to avoid capture. While Son of Sam...  more

WHEN THE KILLER BECOMES THE TARGET. Competing for headlines with notorious serial killer Son of Sam in 1977, twenty-three-year-old Evie Eastway escalates her vigilante murder spree and is dubbed the Houdini Killer by the tabloids because of her uncanny ability to avoid capture. While Son of Sam is feared, Hero Houdini graffiti begins to appear all over New York City after Evie pulls the trigger on a Wall Street banker who looted a blue-collar pension fund. As Evie's lust for blood and headlines intensifies she falls in love with the police lieutenant in command of the task force assigned to capture her, but keeping him from discovering her secret proves difficult and it is not long before she finds herself in the crosshairs of an explosive showdown.

When the battered body of a young woman is discovered on a remote Greek island, the local police are quick to dismiss her death as an accident. Then a stranger arrives, uninvited, from Athens, announcing his intention to investigate further. His methods are unorthodox, and he brings his own...  more

When the battered body of a young woman is discovered on a remote Greek island, the local police are quick to dismiss her death as an accident. Then a stranger arrives, uninvited, from Athens, announcing his intention to investigate further. His methods are unorthodox, and he brings his own mystery into the web of dark secrets and lies. Who has sent him, on whose authority is he acting, and how does he know of dramas played out decades ago?

Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy's bookstore, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda's twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother and suddenly disappears from Miranda's life. She...  more

Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy's bookstore, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda's twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother and suddenly disappears from Miranda's life. She doesn't hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy -- and one final scavenger hunt. When Miranda returns home to Los Angeles and to Prospero Books -- now as its owner -- she finds clues that Billy has hidden for her inside novels on the store's shelves, in locked drawers of his apartment upstairs, in the name of the store itself. Miranda becomes determined to save Prospero Books and to solve Billy's last scavenger hunt. She soon finds herself drawn into a journey where she meets people from Billy's past, people whose stories reveal a history that Miranda's mother has kept hidden -- and the terrible secret that tore her family apart.

The bestselling author of The Dante Club takes us deep into a shadowy era in publishing ruled by a forgotten class of criminals  A golden age of publishing on the verge of collapse. For a hundred years, loose copyright laws and a hungry reading public created a unique opportunity: Books...  more

The bestselling author of The Dante Club takes us deep into a shadowy era in publishing ruled by a forgotten class of criminals  A golden age of publishing on the verge of collapse. For a hundred years, loose copyright laws and a hungry reading public created a unique opportunity: Books could be published without an author's permission with extraordinary ease. Authors gained fame but suffered financially -- Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, to name a few -- but publishers reaped enormous profits while readers got their books on the cheap. The literary pirates who stalked the harbors, coffeehouses, and printer shops for the latest manuscript to steal were known as bookaneers. Yet on the eve of the twentieth century, a new international treaty is signed to protect authors and grind this literary underground to a sharp halt. The bookaneers, of course, would become extinct. In The Last Bookaneer, Matthew Pearl gives us a historical novel set inside the lost world of these doomed outlaws and the incredible heist that brought their era to a close. On the island of Samoa, a dying Robert Louis Stevenson labors over a new novel. The thought of one last book from the great author fires the imaginations of the bookaneers, and soon two adversaries -- the gallant Pen Davenport and the monstrous Belial -- set out for the south Pacific island. Pen Davenport -- a tortured criminal genius haunted by his past -- is reluctantly accompanied by Fergins, the narrator of our story, who has lived a quiet life of bookselling before being whisked across the world on his friend's final caper. Fergins soon discovers the supreme thrill of aiding Davenport in his quest: to steal Stevenson's manuscript and make a fortune before the new treaty ends the bookaneers' trade forever.  Yet Samoa holds many secrets of its own, and the duo's bookish concerns clash with the island's violent destiny. A colonial war is afoot between the British, American, and German powers; even as Stevenson himself quietly supports native revolutionaries from high in his mountain compound. Soon Pen and Fergins are embroiled in a conflict larger, perhaps, than literature itself. Illuminating the heroics of the bookaneers even while conjuring Stevenson himself to breathtaking life, Pearl's The Last Bookaneer is a pageturning journey to the dark heart of a forgotten literary era.

1095 and crusading fervour has swept Europe. Christ's fief of Jerusalem has been seized by the Infidels. The Frankish Knights of the West are to march east to liberate the Holy City. Hugh de Payens and Godefroi of St Omer, the soon-to-be founders of the Templar Order, and Hugh's younger...  more

1095 and crusading fervour has swept Europe. Christ's fief of Jerusalem has been seized by the Infidels. The Frankish Knights of the West are to march east to liberate the Holy City. Hugh de Payens and Godefroi of St Omer, the soon-to-be founders of the Templar Order, and Hugh's younger sister, Eleanor, leave the security of their homes in Burgundy, France, with a plan to join Count Raymond of Toulouse's army, and march across the known world to Jerusalem. Follow the crusaders as they march through Europe into the glories of Byzantium and onto Syria and witness the hardships, bloodshed and trickery they encounter on their treacherous travels to the Holy Land.

'I'm taking a revolver to Thrackley. You never know with blokes like Carson. I hate these harmless, potty people --they're always up to something.' Jim Henderson is one of six guests summoned by the mysterious Edwin Carson, a collector of precious stones, to a weekend party at...  more

'I'm taking a revolver to Thrackley. You never know with blokes like Carson. I hate these harmless, potty people --they're always up to something.' Jim Henderson is one of six guests summoned by the mysterious Edwin Carson, a collector of precious stones, to a weekend party at his country house, Thrackley. The house is gloomy and forbidding but the party is warm and hospitable -- except for the presence of Jacobson, the sinister butler. The other guests are wealthy people draped in jewels; Jim cannot imagine why he belongs in such company. After a weekend of adventure -- with attempted robbery and a vanishing guest -- secrets come to light and Jim unravels a mystery from his past. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARTIN EDWARDS

The world has changed around Wyatt Earp since his glory days as a lawman in the wide-open towns of the Western frontier. Now in his golden years, he's a private detective in Los Angeles -- and the mistress of his late partner Doc Holliday wants him to help turn Doc's errant son away from...  more

The world has changed around Wyatt Earp since his glory days as a lawman in the wide-open towns of the Western frontier. Now in his golden years, he's a private detective in Los Angeles -- and the mistress of his late partner Doc Holliday wants him to help turn Doc's errant son away from the shady path he's chosen to walk in New York City. And there's another good reason for Earp to mount an iron horse headed for the wild, wild East: a reunion with his old friend Bat Masterson, who's traded in his shooting iron for a sportswriter's pen. But a new breed of big city badmen roars in the '20s -- organized cold-killers toting machine guns in lieu of six-shooters. And in the midst of the Jazz Age glitter, two aging, legendary enforcers could be headed for their final showdown with a brutal, hot-headed young gangster . . . named Al Capone.

NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV MEETS MARILYN MONROE In an attempt to soothe growing cold war tensions between America and Russia, Premier Nikita Khrushchev visits the U.S. to see all that his "enemy" has to offer.  Top of his to-do list?  A trip to DisneyLand and an introduction to...  more

NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV MEETS MARILYN MONROE In an attempt to soothe growing cold war tensions between America and Russia, Premier Nikita Khrushchev visits the U.S. to see all that his "enemy" has to offer.  Top of his to-do list?  A trip to DisneyLand and an introduction to sexual icon Marilyn Monroe. Thanks to the impossible security requirements, DisneyLand is out of the question. Marilyn, on the other  hand, jumps at the chance to put on a show for the Russian official. During her appearance, she overhears the details of an assassination plot designed to spark an atomic holocaust and devastate both superpowers. When the Secret Service refuses to believe her, Marilyn risks everything to whisk Khrushchev away to safety -- in the happiest place on Earth. With U.S. agents and the KGB hot on their trail, Marilyn and Khrushchev enjoy the thrills of the amusement park while fighting to stay one step ahead of the assassins and prevent the horrors of an unprecedented war that would annihilate millions.

The cat who swallowed more than a canary...A lifetime of craving more cuddly companionship than her hectoring mother has led fortyish Bettina Bilby to board her neighbors' felines for a long holiday weekend: an expectant tabby, a pampered blue-eyed Balinese, a depressed ginger Persian with a...  more

The cat who swallowed more than a canary...A lifetime of craving more cuddly companionship than her hectoring mother has led fortyish Bettina Bilby to board her neighbors' felines for a long holiday weekend: an expectant tabby, a pampered blue-eyed Balinese, a depressed ginger Persian with a cod-liver-oil addiction, and Adolf, an imperious mouser with a patchwork face.But a freak storm sets the pigeon among the cats-- a carrier bird downed on the doorstep with a tiny load of large flawless diamonds. And Bettina's dilemma escalates, as Adolf gobbles up one of the gems and a succession of elegant but shifty strangers prowl the gardens, offending the cats, and bringing in their wake back-door bloodshed and murder.

With the dawn of the twentieth century on the horizon, the fortunes of the venerable Vanderbilt family still shine brightly in the glittering high society of Newport, Rhode Island. But when a potential scandal strikes, the Vanderbilts turn to cousin and society page reporter Emma Cross to solve...  more

With the dawn of the twentieth century on the horizon, the fortunes of the venerable Vanderbilt family still shine brightly in the glittering high society of Newport, Rhode Island. But when a potential scandal strikes, the Vanderbilts turn to cousin and society page reporter Emma Cross to solve a murder and a disappearance. . .   Responding to a frantic call on her newfangled telephone from her eighteen-year-old cousin, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Emma Cross arrives at the Marble House mansion and learns the cause of her distress--Consuelo's mother, Alva, is forcing her into marriage with the Duke of Marlborough. Her mother has even called in a fortune teller to assure Consuelo of a happy future.   But the future is short-lived for the fortune teller, who is found dead by her crystal ball, strangled with a silk scarf. Standing above her is one of the Vanderbilts' maids, who is promptly taken into police custody. After the frenzy has died down, Consuelo is nowhere to be found. At Alva's request, Emma must employ her sleuthing skills to determine if the vanishing Vanderbilt has eloped with the beau of her choice--or if her disappearance may be directly connected to the murder. . .

Hired to assess the value of broken and missing antiques following a suspicious burglary at a Virginia manor house, intrepid appraiser and amateur sleuth Sterling Glass finds that her job is more complicated than she'd anticipated. The antiques, she realizes, are not always what they seem:...  more

Hired to assess the value of broken and missing antiques following a suspicious burglary at a Virginia manor house, intrepid appraiser and amateur sleuth Sterling Glass finds that her job is more complicated than she'd anticipated. The antiques, she realizes, are not always what they seem: some are worth tens of thousands, others are well-done replicas. Whether the well-traveled and well-heeled couple who once owned Wynderly could have been trafficking in fakes is what Sterling must unravel from the secret rooms, hidden treasures, uncovered diaries, and convoluted trail of paperwork and provenance. As our sharp-witted heroine sifts through details doled out by the museum's curators, board members, and the town's local residents, she discovers that objects, unlike people, do not lie. The Big Steal is a delightful mystery that enhances readers' antiques acumen and provides an easy guide to identifying the most popular styles and periods in an illustrated appendix.

The nightmare began a year ago in Pennsylvania with the shocking death of a delivery driver, blown to pieces during an outrageous crime. And now the terror has spread from East Coast to West . . . As body parts pile up throughout the L.A. area—the result of a devastating series of bank...  more

The nightmare began a year ago in Pennsylvania with the shocking death of a delivery driver, blown to pieces during an outrageous crime. And now the terror has spread from East Coast to West . . . As body parts pile up throughout the L.A. area—the result of a devastating series of bank robberies—federal agencies see nothing but the random hand of a bomb-tossing lunatic. Rogue journalist Frank Corso, however, sees the tracks of something far more sinister—something with a motive and a message. But the closer Corso and research assistant Chris Andriatta come to a fiendishly audacious maniac, the clearer a blood-chilling truth appears in the harsh and glaring light: The fuse to this explosive horror may have inadvertently been lit by Frank Corso himself.

Charlie Harris has sworn off investigating murder and mayhem after a recent close call. Instead, he's delighted to cheer on his daughter, Laura, who's starring in a production of Careless Whispers. The theater department at Athena College is debuting the play written by a fledgling...  more

Charlie Harris has sworn off investigating murder and mayhem after a recent close call. Instead, he's delighted to cheer on his daughter, Laura, who's starring in a production of Careless Whispers. The theater department at Athena College is debuting the play written by a fledgling playwright with local connections and Charlie's son-in-law, Frank Salisbury, will be calling the directorial shots. Laura is upset to learn that Luke Lombardi, an overbearing actor she knew from her time in Hollywood will also be taking part in the production as a guest artist. Lombardi arrives with an entourage in tow and promptly proceeds to annoy everyone involved with the production. When he collapses and dies on stage, after drinking from a glass Laura handed him, she becomes the chief suspect in his murder. Charlie knows his daughter is innocent, and he's not going to let anyone railroad his little girl. So, despite his intentions to put his amateur sleuthing days behind him, Charlie has to take center stage, and with Diesel's help, shine a spotlight on the real killer.

With less than two weeks until Christmas Cait stumbles across a man who had been washed up onto the beach. The man is very much alive, but after suffering a blow to the head, he cannot seem to remember who he is or how he came to be on the island. Cait and visiting cat Clarence set out to...  more

With less than two weeks until Christmas Cait stumbles across a man who had been washed up onto the beach. The man is very much alive, but after suffering a blow to the head, he cannot seem to remember who he is or how he came to be on the island. Cait and visiting cat Clarence set out to discover Prince Charming's identity only to find that their charismatic guest may not be so charming after all.

What The Vatican Doesn't Want You To Know:The lies. The conspiracies. The cover-ups. The truth.Deep behind the walls of the world's holiest site is a dense network of lies, corruption, and conspiracies fueling the Vatican's vast and unchecked influence on world events. From the Holy Orders that...  more

What The Vatican Doesn't Want You To Know:The lies. The conspiracies. The cover-ups. The truth.Deep behind the walls of the world's holiest site is a dense network of lies, corruption, and conspiracies fueling the Vatican's vast and unchecked influence on world events. From the Holy Orders that defied the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill" to the scandals splashed across international headlines, the Vatican is no longer shrouded in mystery, legend, and secrecy. It's all here:The shocking and unsolved murder of the corrupt Vatican financier known as "God's Banker"Real-life exorcism--and shocking rumors of SatanismThe Vatican's startling views on extraterrestrials and end-of-world prophesiesThe Vatican's hidden ties to Nazi Germany and the MafiaThe bizarre rituals of the ultraconservative Opus DeiThe Vatican's ruthless 500-year war with the FreemasonsPope Pius XII's anti-Semitic indifference to the plight of Europe's Jews and the HolocaustAnd much more!This utterly fascinating, unflinching account is the most definitive exposé ever written about the most secretive institution in the world.H. Paul Jeffers is the author of The Bilderberg Conspiracy, Freemasons: Inside the World's Oldest Secret Society and Freemasons in America: Inside the Secret Society, among fifty other books. He has appeared on C-SPAN, Fox News, and The History Channel.

Author Karen White returns with the sequel to the national bestseller The House on Tradd Street. Melanie has grown accustomed to renovating old houses, but she never imagined she'd have to renovate her own life to include her estranged mother. Ginnette Prioleau Middleton left Charleston...  more

Author Karen White returns with the sequel to the national bestseller The House on Tradd Street. Melanie has grown accustomed to renovating old houses, but she never imagined she'd have to renovate her own life to include her estranged mother. Ginnette Prioleau Middleton left Charleston thirty-five years ago. She's returned wanting to protect the daughter she's never really known after receiving an ominous premonition. Melanie never wanted to see her mother again, but with some prodding from her partner, Jack Trenholm, she agrees-and begins to rebuild their relationship. Together Melanie and Ginnette buy back their old home. With their combined psychic abilities they expect to unearth some ghosts. But what they find is a vengeful dark spirit whose strength has been growing for decades. It will take unearthing long buried secrets to beat this demon and save what's left of Melanie's family ...

The moment I?d scanned the outside of the building, I turned to Bruno and said, ?First impressions, it looks straightforward.? Looking back, I can?t help but wonder what I was thinking. I mean, put that line at the opening of a crime novel and it?s practically a guarantee that everything is...  more

The moment I?d scanned the outside of the building, I turned to Bruno and said, ?First impressions, it looks straightforward.? Looking back, I can?t help but wonder what I was thinking. I mean, put that line at the opening of a crime novel and it?s practically a guarantee that everything is about to get complicated.Charlie Howard?globe-trotting mystery writer, professional thief, and poor decision maker?is in Paris. Flush with the success of his latest book reading, not to mention a few too many glasses of wine, Charlie agrees to show a complete novice how to break into an apartment in the Marais. Fast-forward twenty-four hours and Charlie?s hired to steal an ordinary-looking oil painting?from the exact same address.Mere coincidence? Charlie figures there?s no harm in finding out?until a dead body turns up in his living room and he finds himself evading the law while becoming caught up in a quite outrageous heist. And that?s before Charlie?s literary agent, Victoria (who?s naive enough to assume that he looks like his author photo), finally decides they should meet face-to-face.Nobody ever said a life of suspense was easy, but Charlie, the most disarmingly charming burglar since Cary Grant, soon finds things are getting way out of control.

Keller is friendly. Industrious. A bit lonely, sometimes. If it wasn't for the fact that he kills people for a living, he'd be just your average Joe. The inconvenient wife, the troublesome sports star, the greedy business partner, the vicious dog, he'll take care of them all, quietly...  more

Keller is friendly. Industrious. A bit lonely, sometimes. If it wasn't for the fact that he kills people for a living, he'd be just your average Joe. The inconvenient wife, the troublesome sports star, the greedy business partner, the vicious dog, he'll take care of them all, quietly and efficiently. If the price is right. Like the rest of us, Keller's starting to worry about his retirement. After all, he's not getting any younger. (His victims, on the other hand, aren't getting any older.) So he contacts his "booking agent," Dot, up in White Plains, and tells her to keep the hits coming. He'll take any job, anywhere. His nest egg needs fattening up. Of course, being less choosy means taking greater risks—and that could buy Keller some big trouble. Then again, in this game, there are plenty of opportunities for some inventive improvisation . . . and a determined self-motivator can make a killing.

Someone is killing young girls in the once-peaceful parks of Stockholm -- killing them after having his way. The people of Stockholm are tense and fearful. Police Superintendent Martin Beck has two witnesses: a cold-blooded mugger who won't say much and a three-year-old boy who can't say...  more

Someone is killing young girls in the once-peaceful parks of Stockholm -- killing them after having his way. The people of Stockholm are tense and fearful. Police Superintendent Martin Beck has two witnesses: a cold-blooded mugger who won't say much and a three-year-old boy who can't say much. The dedicated work of the police force seems to be leading nowhere, and with each passing day, the likelihood of another murder grows. But then Beck remembers someone -- or something -- he overheard.

Will, the fledgling playwright and poet, and Tuck, the would-be actor and rest-of-the-time ostler, have been enjoying their lives on and behind the stage...if only it wasn't for the occasional interruptions: plague, the closing of the theater for reasons of law or finance, and the occasional...  more

Will, the fledgling playwright and poet, and Tuck, the would-be actor and rest-of-the-time ostler, have been enjoying their lives on and behind the stage...if only it wasn't for the occasional interruptions: plague, the closing of the theater for reasons of law or finance, and the occasional murder. As luck would have it, the dramatic twosome must once again play detective in a case that involves the fates of those near and dear to their hearts as well as certain hoped-to-have-been-forgotten family members . Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta is all the rage on the London stage, and the young bard wishes to rise to the competition. With companion Tuck at his side, Will makes a sojourn for research purposes into the Elizabethan underworld, where contracts are blood bonds and the quality of mercy is stretched to its very limits. He becomes embroiled in a tangle of unlucky young lovers, anti-Semitism, and rogue justice.

The Cabot Cove residents are pulling out all the stops for their celebration of the 4th of July this year. But amidst the pleasures of planning the big event, there is tension too. Joseph Lennon, a very successful businessman, has recently relocated to Cabot Cave and is funding a big fireworks...  more

The Cabot Cove residents are pulling out all the stops for their celebration of the 4th of July this year. But amidst the pleasures of planning the big event, there is tension too. Joseph Lennon, a very successful businessman, has recently relocated to Cabot Cave and is funding a big fireworks show and rock concert. There are many in town who don't like him throwing his wealth and power around to get things done his way. When Mr. Lennon's body is found the evening of the fireworks show, Jessica has a long list of potential suspects.

After serving as a nurse in the Crimea, British-born Celia Davies left her privileged family for an impulsive marriage to a handsome Irishman. Patrick brought her to San Francisco's bustling shores but then disappeared and is now presumed dead.  Determined to carry on, Celia partnered...  more

After serving as a nurse in the Crimea, British-born Celia Davies left her privileged family for an impulsive marriage to a handsome Irishman. Patrick brought her to San Francisco's bustling shores but then disappeared and is now presumed dead.  Determined to carry on, Celia partnered with her half-Chinese cousin Barbara and her opinionated housekeeper Addie to open a free medical clinic for women who have nowhere else to turn. But Celia's carefully constructed peace crumbles when one of her Chinese patients is found brutally murdered...and Celia's hotheaded brother-in-law stands accused of the crime. A veteran of America's civil war, detective Nicholas Greaves is intent on discovering the killer of the girl, whose ethnicity and gender render her as powerless in death as they did in life. Nicholas's efforts are complicated by Celia, who has a knack for walking into dangerous situations that may lead to answers...or get them both killed.  For as their inquiries take them from Chinatown's squalid back alleys to the Barbary Coast's violent shipping docks to the city's gilded parlors, Celia and Nicholas begin to suspect that someone very close to them holds the key to a murderous conspiracy...

Full-time hairdressers and part-time private detectives, Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin—the Domestic Equalizers—have dealt with cheating spouses, shady business deals, Elvis-obsessed shoe thieves, even murder. But ghosts? That's a whole new rodeo! Justin...  more

Full-time hairdressers and part-time private detectives, Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin—the Domestic Equalizers—have dealt with cheating spouses, shady business deals, Elvis-obsessed shoe thieves, even murder. But ghosts? That's a whole new rodeo! Justin Sadler's just coming to terms with the absence of his dear departed Rachel—but now he's not so sure she's departed! Every time he goes home he knows someone's been there—and if it's not Rachel trying to communicate from beyond, it's someone else who's trying to drive him stark raving bonkers. So the Equalizers are on the case, with the help of an El Paso psychic who's so dead-on, it's scary. It's enough to make any good ol' gal's big hair stand on end! The investigation leads them toward one of their tiny West Texas town's more unsavory characters—and, all things considered, Debbie Sue would much rather be cuddling in the arms of her hubby, the sexiest cop in the whole nation of Texas. But the Equalizers will never say die . . . even when dealing with the restless dead.

Despite her best intentions, Kick Keswick--international jewel thief, fabulous dresser, gourmet cook, and woman-about-town--finds herself drawn into the glamorous, dangerous world of jewels (and the people who covet them).... It should have been the start of a perfect sojourn in Provence....  more

Despite her best intentions, Kick Keswick--international jewel thief, fabulous dresser, gourmet cook, and woman-about-town--finds herself drawn into the glamorous, dangerous world of jewels (and the people who covet them).... It should have been the start of a perfect sojourn in Provence. Kick Keswick had just settled down to warm chocolate souffle with a decadently rich Grand Marnier sauce and a small glass of Armagnac when she receives startling news: the personal jewels of the Queen of England herself have gone missing, and she wants Kick to get them back. Most of the world knows Kick as an expert in jewels and antiquities, having been the right hand at Ballantine & Company Auctioneers in London, but others know Kick as the world’s finest jewel thief, a woman who can stand out in a crowd at will, but who can also blend in when she wants to. So the chase is on, in a race that takes her from Provence to Paris, London, St. Moritz, and Milan--and puts all her wiles and talents to the test as she faces a thief whose skills match her own. And with Kick Keswick on the case, there will be trouble afoot--of the multifaceted kind. With sophistication, wit, and insider details, Perfect is a madcap adventure that takes you on a quest for the things that make life worth living…or at least worth talking about.

In five interlinked chronological tales (and a prologue), a brilliant cast of medieval sleuths created by Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Philip Gooden, and Simon Beaufort, pursues the bloody mystery of a relic powerful and cursed a fragment of the True...  more

In five interlinked chronological tales (and a prologue), a brilliant cast of medieval sleuths created by Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Philip Gooden, and Simon Beaufort, pursues the bloody mystery of a relic powerful and cursed a fragment of the True Cross. July, 1100: Jerusalem has fallen to the Crusader armies, the Holy City lies ransacked. Amidst the chaos, an English knight named Geoffrey Mappestone is entrusted with a precious religious relic: a piece of the True Cross, allegedly stained with the blood of Christ. The relic is said to be cursed: anyone who touches it will meet a gruesome end as soon as it leaves their possession. Several decades pass, and the Cross turns up in the possession of a dealer -- robbed and murdered en route to Glastonbury. Investigating the death, Bernard Knight’s protagonist, Crowner John, learns of the relic’s dark history. Oxford, 1269: the discovery of a decapitated monk leads Ian Morson’s academic sleuth William Falconer to uncover a link to the relic. Exeter, 1323. Michael Jecks’ Sir Baldwin Furnshill has reason to suspect the relic’s involvement in at least five violent deaths. Thirty years on, suspicious deaths occur in Cambridge during a contentious debate about Holy Blood relics. Once more, as Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael are to discover, the tainted relic has a crucial part to play. Finally, the relic is dispatched to London, where it falls into the hands of an unscrupulous book dealer -- and where Philip Gooden’s Nick Revill will determine its ultimate fate. An enthralling read, perfect for mystery lovers, history buffs, or anyone who appreciates an intricately plotted tale.

One of our most provocative military historians, Victor Davis Hanson has given us painstakingly researched and pathbreaking accounts of wars ranging from classical antiquity to the twenty-first century. Now he juxtaposes an ancient conflict with our most urgent modern concerns to create his most...  more

One of our most provocative military historians, Victor Davis Hanson has given us painstakingly researched and pathbreaking accounts of wars ranging from classical antiquity to the twenty-first century. Now he juxtaposes an ancient conflict with our most urgent modern concerns to create his most engrossing work to date, A War Like No Other.Over the course of a generation, the Hellenic city-states of Athens and Sparta fought a bloody conflict that resulted in the collapse of Athens and the end of its golden age. Thucydides wrote the standard history of the Peloponnesian War, which has given readers throughout the ages a vivid and authoritative narrative. But Hanson offers readers something new: a complete chronological account that reflects the political background of the time, the strategic thinking of the combatants, the misery of battle in multifaceted theaters, and important insight into how these events echo in the present.Hanson compellingly portrays the ways Athens and Sparta fought on land and sea, in city and countryside, and details their employment of the full scope of conventional and nonconventional tactics, from sieges to targeted assassinations, torture, and terrorism. He also assesses the crucial roles played by warriors such as Pericles and Lysander, artists, among them Aristophanes, and thinkers including Sophocles and Plato.Hanson’s perceptive analysis of events and personalities raises many thought-provoking questions: Were Athens and Sparta like America and Russia, two superpowers battling to the death? Is the Peloponnesian War echoed in the endless, frustrating conflicts of Vietnam, Northern Ireland, and the current Middle East? Or was it more like America’s own Civil War, a brutal rift that rent the fabric of a glorious society, or even this century’s “red state—blue state” schism between liberals and conservatives, a cultural war that manifestly controls military policies? Hanson daringly brings the facts to life and unearths the often surprising ways in which the past informs the present.Brilliantly researched, dynamically written, A War Like No Other is like no other history of this important war.From the Hardcover edition.

Having unsuspectingly lifted the hottest gem in town, John Dortmunder becomes the prey of the FBI, the New York City police, terrorist groups from three nations, and all of New York's petty and not-so-petty crooks.