"One of the most enduring and unusual heroes in detective fiction."THE BALTIMORE SUNNow that Linda "Pidge" Lewellen is grown up, she tells Travis McGee, once her girlhood idol, that either she's going crazy or Howie, her affable ex-jock of a husband is trying to kill her. McGee checks things out, and gives Pidge the all clear. But when Pidge and Howie sail away to kiss and make up, McGee has second thoughts. If only he can get to Pidge before he has time for any more thinking.... Views: 39
IN THE SUMMER OF 1815, with Napolean Bonaparte marching down from the north, Brussels is a whirlwind of parties, balls and soirées. In the swirling social scene surrounding the Duke of Wellington and his noble aides de camp, no one attracts more attention than the beautiful, outrageous young widow Lady Barbara Childe. On their first meeting, dashing Colonel Charles Audley proposes to her, but even their betrothal doesn't calm her wild behavior. Finally, with the Battle of Waterloo raging just miles away, civilians fleeing and the wounded pouring back into the town, Lady Barbara discovers where her heart really lies, and like a true noblewoman, she rises to the occasion, and to the demands of love, life and war... Views: 39
Red-haired Shirley Grant, a nurse at Boston's Eastern Memorial Hospital, would never have been engaged as Oliver Craft's nurse had it not been for her two years' experience as an actress. Craft, one of the "greats" of the American theater, now dying of cancer, was determined to complete his tour in the starring role of The Cardinal, and the grand old man needed a nurse to tour with him.It was Oliver Craft who introduced Shirley to doctor-turned-actor Hugh Deering, who had left the medical profession under a cloud. Hugh, good company, a fine actor, and, presumably, an even finer doctor, represented a challenge to Shirley. From her own experience, she could not understand a doctor leaving his profession, for whatever cause, for the stage.Then wealthy, young Philadelphian Roger Craft, Oliver's grandson, met Shirley and fell in love with her.And Shirley, trying to keep the flame of life burning in her aging patient, found the answer to her own heart in another's need.An exciting nurse story, set in the glamorous world of the theater. Views: 39
Rich with wisdom and gentle irony, Goldsmith's only novel tells of an unworldly and generous vicar who lives contentedly with his large family until disaster strikes. But bankruptcy, his daughter's abduction, and the vicar's imprisonment fail to dampen his spirit. Considered the author's finest work, this book is a delightful lampoon of 18th-century literary conventions.ReviewNovel by Oliver Goldsmith, published in two volumes in 1766. The story, a portrait of village life, is narrated by Dr. Primrose, the title character, whose family endures many trials--including the loss of most of their money, the seduction of one daughter, the destruction of their home by fire, and the vicar's incarceration--before all is put right in the end. The novel's idealization of rural life, sentimental moralizing, and melodramatic incidents are countered by a sharp but good-natured irony. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of LiteratureAbout the AuthorOliver Goldsmith (1728 - 1774) was born in Ireland. Having studied at Trinity College, Dublin, he studied medicine at Edinburgh and Leyden after being rejected by the Church of Ireland. Settling in London, he was writing professionally by 1757 and became a friend of Johnson. Best known for She Stoops to Conquer, The Vicar of Wakefield is his only novel and is generally considered his finest work. Stephen Coote was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge and Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of critical studies of Chaucer, T.S. Eliot and English literature of the Middle Ages, as well as biographies of Byron and William Morris. Views: 39
She thought he was too big for his boots!Sister Charity Dawson loved her job, but there was one problem. Like the other members of St. Simon's nursing staff, she had to put up with the arrogant Dr. Everard van Tijlen.When Charity discovered that the distinguished doctor's exorbitant fees funded a playboy lifestyle, she hit the roof. Everard might have an engagingly boyish smile, but he needed to be taken down a peg or two. And Charity knew just how to do it! Views: 39
More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA Views: 39
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) These three brilliantly wrought, tragic novellas explore the repressed emotions and destructive passions of working-class people far removed from the social milieu usually inhabited by Edith Wharton's characters. Ethan Frome is one of Wharton's most famous works; it is a tightly constructed and almost unbearably heartbreaking story of forbidden love in a snowbound New England village. Summer, also set in rural New England, is often considered a companion to Ethan Frome-Wharton herself called it “the hot Ethan”-in its portrayal of a young woman's sexual and social awakening. Bunner Sisters takes place in the narrow, dusty streets of late nineteenth-century New York City, where the constrained but peaceful lives of two spinster shopkeepers are shattered when they meet a man who becomes the unworthy focus of all their pent-up hopes. All three of these novellas feature realistic and haunting characters as vivid as any Wharton ever conjured, and together they provide a superb introduction to the shorter fiction of one of our greatest writers. Views: 39
Amazon.com ReviewI've promised myself for the past decade that, when I finally retire, my first major project will be to reread the entire Nero Wolfe canon in chronological order, a worthwhile occupation if ever there was one. Although entirely different and not nearly as literary as Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer series or the Philip Marlowe novels of Raymond Chandler, the Wolfe saga deserves to be ranked with them as among the finest series of detective stories ever written by an American. Fer-de-lance introduces the brilliant, idiosyncratic, and obese armchair detective to the world and, while it may not be the best book of the series, it provides a wonderful murder set on a golf course and a cast of characters and laundry list of eccentricities that are an integral part of each novel and novella. Rex Stout has managed to pull off a feat unparalleled to this day: the perfect combination of deductive reasoning--as exemplified by the classic Golden Age writers such as Christie, Sayers, Van Dine, and Queen--with the hard-boiled attitude and dialogue of the more realistic tough guy writers such as Chandler, Macdonald, Hammett, and Robert B. Parker. The toughness is brought to the books by Wolfe's leg man and amanuensis, Archie Goodwin. The structure and ambience of the books is, quite deliberately, very much like the Sherlock Holmes stories that Stout so admired. The house on West 35th Street is as familiar as the sitting room at 221B Baker Street; his cook Fritz pops up as regularly as Mrs. Hudson; and his irritant, Inspector Cramer of the NYPD, serves the same role as several Scotland Yard detectives, notably Inspector Lestrade, did for Holmes. Fair warning: It is safe to read one Nero Wolfe novel, because you will surely like it. It is extremely unsafe to read three, because you will forever be hooked on the delightful characters who populate these perfect books. --Otto PenzlerReview"Fer-de-Lance will be welcomed by the legions of Rex Stout fans, and serve as welcome introduction to a whole new generation of mystery buffs." -- The Midwest Book Review, May 1997"I've noticed books by Rex Stout (1886-1975) for many years but never have purchased or read one. You know, so many books, so little time. I've been missing the company of the ever-eccentric Nero Wolfe and his faithful legman, Archie Goodwin...I don't want to tell you too much about this classic tale and spoil your fun. This version is expertly performed by Michael Prichard, who has also brought novels by Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy to life." -- Jim Clark, Publisher"In the annals of eccentric private detectives, one of the most famous is Nero Wolfe. Wolfe is an obese, misanthropic, arrogant orchid fancier who solves mysteries while never leaving his New York brownstone. His eyes and ears to the world is Archie Goodwin, the narrator of the books. In this well-read audio edition of Stout's first Wolfe novel, Goodwin is asked to find out who murdered a young Italian immigrant. The path leads to upscale Westchester County and to the body of a recently deceased philanthropist who has a crazy wife, a jealous son, and a beautiful daughter. Throw into the mix an attempt on Wolfe's life using a poisonous snake and the listener is entertained with a 1934 period mystery that is remarkably fresh." -- The Roanoke Times, November 16, 1997"It is always a treat to [hear] a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore." -- The New York Times Book ReviewOriginally published in 1934, Fer-de-Lance is the first mystery novel ever written by Rex Stout. This classic crime story (complete and unabridged) introduces one of the great fictional detectives, Nero Wolfe. Wolfe, the arrogant, gormandizing, sedentary sleuth who raises orchids in his Manhattan brownstone, solving his case with help from his assistant, Archie Goodwin, was to become one of American literature's most recognizable charecters. When a fer-de-lance (one of the most deadly snakes know to man) is delivered to Nero Wolfe, Archie knows he is getting very close to solving the clever murders of an immigrant and a college president. The denouement brings forth all of Nero Wolfe's talents as he gathers the suspects together. Fer-de-Lance will be welcomes by the legions of Rex Stout fans, and serve as welcome introduction to a whole new generation of mystery buffs. -- Midwest Book Review Views: 39
While on her last assignment with British Intelligence in Morocco, the widowed Julia Probyn Jamieson meets and is strongly attracted to an Irish country lawyer, Gerald O'Brien, who is travelling with friends of hers. O'Brien has asked Julia to marry him but she delays her decision until he has met her five-year-old son Philip, who is somewhat hard to handle. Boy and man take to each other, and it becomes clear that Gerald will be an ideal stepfather. On his part, Gerald insists that she come to Ireland to see his modest home and meet his friends and neighbors before she makes up her mind, for his world is far different from the glamorous cosmopolitan one she is accustomed to. Julia's quiet vacation is interrupted when she stumbles upon a plot by an unknown land speculator who, with the unwitting aid of an attractive American woman and an Irish poet, is surreptitiously buying a strip of land along the coast for the purpose of building a huge resort hotel and casino. The intrepid... Views: 39
The characters ...Adeline O'Hara, ex-WAC and reporter for the Teneskium (Oregon) Pioneer, also country correspondent for the Portland Press, who tells the story. She is young, red-headed, and Irish. She meetsTitus Willow, the pudgy passionate professional philanthropist, who is a badly frightened man. He is visitingCarson Delhart, the Portland millionaire, who dislikes giving interviews , and who wants to marry Titus Willow's daughterDaisy Willow, small and babyish, with a penchant for suicide. She is engaged toArthur Frew, Titus Willow's assistant, a very sullen young man who dislikes everyone and everything. He causes Adeline a lot of trouble. Also involved isGlory Martin, beautiful ice-blonde ward of Carson Delhart. She is rumored to be his mistress, and has definite tendencies toward dipsomania and nymphomania. Watching out for her isPotter Hilton, Delhart's extremely efficient secretary, who is cold and precise and at times very... Views: 39
A forgotten SF classic that exposed the pitfalls of voyeuristic entertainment decades before the reality show crazeA few years in the future, medical science has advanced to the point where it is practically unheard of for people to die of any cause except old age. The few exceptions provide the fodder for a new kind of television show for avid audiences who lap up the experience of watching someone else's dying weeks. So when Katherine Mortenhoe is told that she has about four weeks to live, she knows it's not just her life she's about to lose, but her privacy as well. D. G. Compton foresaw "reality television" long before anyone had heard of Big Brother.About the AuthorD. G. Compton is a science fiction author who also has written crime novels under the name Guy Compton and Gothic novels under the name Frances Lynch. His 1970 novel The Steel Crocodile was nominated for the Nebula Award, and he was named the 2007 Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He lives in Maine. Lisa Tuttle is the Nebula Award-winning author of The Mysteries, The Pillow Friend, and The Silver Bough. Views: 39
THE PUBLICATION of Under the Moons of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs in THE ALL-STORY MAGAZINE in 1912 brought onto the magazine scene a writer whose instantaneous and phenomenal popularity shaped the policies of the early pulp magazines, making them the focal center of science fiction and inspiring a school of writers who made the scientific romance he wrote the most accepted form for more than twenty years. This book tells the history of the early years of that colorful writing cycle and puts it into perspective of the publishing world of the period. It also includes a selection from each of the most acclaimed who wrote in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs.The history is chronological, with appropriate flashbacks, and written to be read for entertainment as well as information. Yet it is in every sense a reference, for careful attention has been paid to precise accuracy of titles, dates, rates of payment, biographical matter, and factuality. The bulk of the information provided was obtained from primary sources and has not appeared elsewhere.This volume is a continuation of the editor's Science Fiction by Gaslight: A History and Anthology of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, 1891-1911.Contents:PREFACEUNDER THE MOONS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1912)DARKNESS AND DAWN by George Allan England (1912)POLARIS OF THE SNOWS by Charles B. Stilson (1916)PALOS OF THE DOG STAR PACK by J. U. Giesy (1918)FRIEND ISLAND by Francis Stevens (1918)THE MOON POOL by A. Merritt (1918)THE GIRL IN THE GOLDEN ATOM by Ray Cummings (1919)THE MAD PLANET by Murray Leinster (1920)THE BLIND SPOT by Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint (1921)A HISTORY OF "THE SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE" IN THE MUNSEY MAGAZINES, 1912-1920, by Sam Moskowitz Views: 39
Everyone on Earth gains the power to see a day into the future, but some visions are better not "seen". Views: 39
