On September 15, 1802, the English brig Mentor sailed from Piraeus, its hold filled with the "Elgin Marbles"--the Classical Greek sculptures that Lord Elgin, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, had prised from the Parthenon in Athens. The ship was bound for Great Britain, where Elgin intended the sculptures to adorn his family estate. This much is history. William Hamilton, Lord Elgin's personal secretary and a witness to the stripping of the Parthenon sculptures, looks to what should be a triumphant voyage home, but finds himself beset with strange voices. Whispers heard deep in the hold lead to an uncanny encounter with a most unusual stowaway . . . one destined to bring the Mentor--and Hamilton--to the verge of disaster. With the treasures of Classical Athens--a seeming realm of clarity, harmony, and order--lying in fragments around him, Hamilton begins to realize that the Greek ideals his nation has embraced arose from darker origins, and that a genius loci, the "spirit of... Views: 66
A gripping morality tale of twentieth-century Paris.Translated from the French by Margaret Crosland & Elfreda Powell. The reprint of the French crime novel that was awarded the top prize for best crime story of itsyear by the French Crime Writers Association andhas since become a huge hit in the UK as part of Arcadia's EuroCrime Series. Set in the heart of the rag-trade district in Paris over a singlehectic month, it takes the reader along a dark path' of sinister events that centre around the murder of a young Thai woman - but take in every element of sleazy city life. Extraordinaire!Review"'The novel I liked most this year. Set in Le Sentier, the district of Paris where expensive clothes are made in sweatshops, it uses real events - the struggle by foreign workers in 1980 to get legal status - as the setting for an extraordinarily vivid crime novel' - Joan Smith, Books of the Year, Independent 'A splendid neo-realistic tale of everyday bleakness and transgression set in the seedy underworld of Paris. You can smell the Gitanes and pastis fumes of the real France' - Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian 'The complexity and the uncompromising tone have drawn comparisons with American writers such as James Ellroy. But Manotti's ability to convey the unique rhythms of a French police investigation distinguishes Rough Trade' - Daily Telegraph 'Tightly written, undoubtedly realistic and often exciting' - The Times" About the AuthorDominique Manotti teaches nineteenth-century Economic History. Rough Trade, her first novel, was awarded the top prize for the best thriller of the year by the French Crime Writers Association. Her other books include Lorraine Connections and Dead Horsemeat. Views: 66
Stewart O'Nan's critically acclaimed novel Everyday People brings together the stories of the people of an African-American Pittsburgh neighborhood during one fateful week in the early fall of 1998. Vibrant, poignant, and brilliantly rendered, Everyday People is a lush, dramatic portrait that vividly captures the experience of the day-to-day struggle that is life in urban America. "A unique and tantalizing novel that celebrates the lives of everyday people in an extraordinary way." -- Mike Maiello, San Francisco Chronicle "An important book ... Beautiful, heartbreaking, haunting." -- Manuel Luis Martinez, Chicago Tribune Views: 66
Ralph Messenger is a man who knows what he wants and generally gets it. Approaching his fiftieth birthday, he has good reason to feel pleased with himself. As Director of the prestigious Holt Belling Centre for Cognitive Science at the University of Gloucester he is much in demand as a pundit on developments in artificial intelligence and the study of human consciousness - 'the last frontier of scientific enquiry'. He enjoys an affluent life style subsidised by the wealth of his American wife, Carrie. Known to colleagues on the conference circuit as a womaniser and to Private Eye as a 'Media Dong', he has reached a tacit understanding with Carrie to refrain from philandering in his own back yard.This resolution is already weakening when he meets and is attracted to Helen Reed, a distinguished novelist still grieving for the sudden death of her husband more than a year ago, who has rented out her London house and taken up a post as writer-in residence at Gloucester... Views: 66
The Oneness holds the world together ... what happens if it falls apart?Tired of sitting on the defensive, Chris and Tyler go after the hive—the dark entity created when humans and demons join forces. When they disappear, Reese and the others must continue the hunt. An abandoned warehouse, a possessed teen, a children's home, a rural community, and a trail of murders—all lead to final confrontation with the enemy.And with the truth: That if the Oneness turns on itself, it becomes the greatest danger in the world. Views: 66
Sometimes the past isn’t what you expect it to be. Rouge desperately wants to find the truth about the past. Nothing could have prepared her for what she’s about to learn. Views: 66
Parker, the ruthless antihero of Richard Stark's eponymous mystery novels, is one of the most unforgettable characters in hardboiled noir. Lauded by critics for his taut realism, unapologetic amorality, and razor-sharp prose style—and adored by fans who turn each intoxicating page with increasing urgency—Stark is a master of crime writing, his books as influential as any in the genre. The University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print for a new generation of readers to discover—and become addicted to. In The Seventh, the heist of a college football game goes bad, and the take is stolen by a crazed, violent amateur. Parker must outrun the cops—and the killer—to retrieve his cash. "Parker . . . lumbers through the pages of Richard Stark's noir novels scattering dead bodies like peanut shells. . . . In a complex world [he] makes things simple."—William... Views: 66
More compulsive fun in this all-new, original mystery starring everyone's favorite OCD detective, 'one of television's best-loved characters.' (Honolulu Star- Bulletin) Leland Stottlemeyer is used to obsessive- compulsive genius Adrian Monk getting all the praise and attention. But the police captain is feeling a little hostile after taking a lot of ribbing about his reliance on his star consultant. Is it possible he's used the latest round of budget cuts as an excuse to cut Monk loose? But Monk is much too compulsive to stop investigating, even without pay. Soon he's calling in tips under assumed names to help solve cases. (Who would ever guess the real identity of 'Adrian Smith' and 'Adrian Jones?') Then Stottlemeyer is framed for the murder of another cop – and only one detective in San Francisco can save him… Views: 66
