Marius Lovelaine has decided to extend the olive-branch and visit his estranged sister at her island-set hotel. He rallies his family together, but wife Clothilde wants nothing to do with sister or island, and opts to visit her cousin instead. Reluctantly, Marius travels to the island of Great Skua with only his grown children in tow: son Sebastian and daughter Margaret are determined to make the most of their holiday. Eliza Lovelaine (now Dashleigh) has invited them to her hotel, though rather dubiously mentioning the guest fees as she did so. Marius and family disembark from the boat, having arrived with a reptilian older lady and her Amazon-sized companion, only to be told that sister Lizzie has not returned from a trip to the mainland. Frustrated, Marius waits for her arrival, but the days pass and the tiny boat never brings the missing woman to the island.
Marius does make the acquaintance of Eliza's business partner, a dour woman named Miss Crimp, who promptly annoys her guest by situating Marius at the hotel while booking his offspring into a separate chalet. An infestation of ornithologists to the island proves the last straw, but before the Lovelaines can make an exit, a birdwatcher spots the body of a woman being tossed against the rocks by a turbulent sea. Identification shows that the unfortunate woman is Eliza Dashliegh. Marius, who had hoped to reconcile with his sister partly to bolster any potential inheritance she might leave, becomes a suspect in the suspicious death, as does the money-minded Miss Crimp and Lizzie's illegitimate son, an island farmer named Ransome Lovelaine.
Sebastian and Margaret find that the family headstones in the churchyard have been defaced in a curious manner, and unsettling actions and signs point to the presence of witchcraft on Great Skua. Dame Beatrice keeps an eye on events, but she and Laura have come to the island on their own mission. Dead pigs, locked lighthouses, midnight rituals and pirates' caves provide enough intrigue for the elderly detective to postpone the writing of her memoirs and investigate the mysteries provided by this wind-swept, rocky Atlantic island. Views: 22
When a girl with a cockscomb of pink hair, wearing a red balloon skirt and army boots, drops off a surprise "gift" during Bradley and Janie's wedding, a saga of chaotic hilarity is set in motion. Who is the baby cooing beneath the folds of tissue paper in the Bloomingdale's bag? Will the CEO of an internationally successful pet products corporation take him in? What about Maxine, from the famous advice column "Dear Maxine," who is a dating disaster? Perhaps there had been a mistake at the sperm bank where the receptionist plays her own version of Sex in the City. Maybe the father of the "groom" at a Yorkshire terrier wedding will provide a haven for this bundle in a bag. Or will the hard-hearted social worker take the baby away from them all? Views: 22
Romance. 40406 words long. First published in 2007, 2007 Views: 22
Marion, Homer, and Ruben are dispatched to Sioux Falls in the Dakota Territory to investigate the disappearance of another Federal Marshal, James Jacklin. While trying to gather information on Marshal Jacklin, the men come face to face with an entirely new situation that might be related...the kidnapping, selling, and forced prostitution of young Chinese girls. With the support of a determined and wealthy woman, the boys set out to find Marshal James Jacklin and to investigate a brutal market of slavery. Saddle up and join the marshals as they take to the Dakota Trail. Views: 22
A magnificent reconstruction of Poland and her people from the Second World War to Solidarity From the streets of Nazi-occupied Warsaw, through the lonely dreams of a little Polish boy growing up in Clapham in the fifties, to a candlelit vigil for Solidarity outside London's Polish Embassy – this is the tragic story of Poland seen through the fortunes of a single family. Jan and Anna Prawicki survived Hitler's devastation of Warsaw, and fled, haunted by the past, to England. Through their own struggles, the memories of their parents and the developing lives and loves of their children, Jerzy and Ewa, we enter the terrors of war, occupation, repression and resistance, as individuals and a nation struggle for life and liberty. '... embraces the experience of two generations of Poles . . . An alluring subject, skilfully constructed' Daily Telegraph Views: 22
Announcing a new collection of stories by Fritz Leiber. Assembled here is a selection of Mr. Leiber's best horrific tales, many of which have been virtually unobtainable for decades. From the riveting "Spider Mansion" and "The Phantom Slayer" from Weird Tales to the more recent "Lie Still, Snow White" and "Black Has Its Charms" from rare, small-press magazines, this collection provides an overview of Leiber's fifty-plus years as an acknowledged master of the weird tale.While much of Leiber's seminal science-fiction and fantasy remains in print, his work in the field of supernatural horror has been sadly neglected until now. Edited by John Pelan and Steve Savile. Views: 22
On a routine mission to survey Domarus IV -- a class M world with no intelligent life -- a U.S.S. Enterprise shuttle crewed by Data, Troi and Wesley Crusher is captured by a race called the Tenirans who claim the world for themselves. As Captain Picard tries to negotiate with the captain of the Teniran ship, the shuttle suddenly disappears in a blaze of color and light.Picard demands to know what's happened to the shuttle and its crew, but the Tenarins deny any part in their disappearance. Suddenly, Captain Picard vanishes from the bridge and finds himself alone on the planet's surface with the Tenarin captain. As the two captains begin to work together, they realize that they are not alone on Domarus IV as they confront an incredible alien force with the power to transform a world -- or to destroy it. Views: 22
What if some of the artists we feel as if we know—Meryl Streep, Neil Young, Bill Murray—turned up in the course of our daily lives? This is what happens to Rose McEwan, an ordinary woman who keeps having strange encounters with famous people. In this engrossing, original novel-in-stories, we follow her life from age 17, when she takes a summer writing course led by a young John Updike, through her first heartbreak (witnessed by Joni Mitchell) on the island of Crete, through her marriage, divorce, and a canoe trip with Taylor Swift, Leonard Cohen and Karl Ove Knausgaard. (Yes, read on.)With wit and insight, Marni Jackson takes a world obsessed with celebrity and turns it on its head. In Don't I Know You?, she shows us how fame is just another form of fiction, and how, in the end, the daily dramas of an ordinary woman's life can be as captivating and poignant as any luminary tell-all. Views: 22
