~Book One of The Silk Series~ Eight years ago, Thomas Cartwright and Lady Nicola Fitzgibbons were friends. Now, Lady Nicola is back in London, bringing tales of scandal with her. Thomas, a respectable barrister and new member of parliament, cannot be associated with scandal...but Nicola won’t let him ignore her. Views: 43
At the reading of her adoptive father's will, Aileen Bolton receives the shock of her life: Jack Bolton left his half of their Wyoming ranch to a stranger. Still reeling from this unexpected blow, Aileen is dealt another nasty surprise back at the Triangle B.
Quint Fernandez, the handsome, forceful new co-owner, awaits her, eager to claim his windfall inheritance. He is Jack's biological son from a brief affair whose identity and existence had been hidden from Aileen all these years. She begins to question how well she really knew her adoptive parents and feels betrayed.
Unable to buy each other out, Aileen and Jack reluctantly join forces to save the faltering ranch. However, their truce is soon imperiled by the attraction sizzling between them, crippling financial difficulties, vicious gossip, and a moral turpitude charge that may end Aileen's teaching career. The only answer seems to be a marriage of convenience. Yet how long can they resist their totally inconvenient need to share absolutely everything?
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TERROR KNOWS NO FRONTIERSA deadly secret whispered by a dying gunrunner on a lonely roadin Zambia sets MI6 agent Sam Packer on a frantic race against time. A terrorist gang has acquired a horror weapon but before packer can discover more the man dies.Packer is on his own, faced with skeptical colleagues and thegunrunner's daughter Julie, who may hold the key to the secret but who also suspects it was Packer who engineered her father's death.As Packer fights desperately to win Julie's confidence, theunlikely pair follow the trail of murder and deceit from Scotlandto Vienna and on to a lonely island in the Adriatic: there they willfind not only the weapon but the identity of the sinister organization known as the Lucifer Network. Views: 43
When Edith Templeton’s stories began appearing in The New Yorker in the late 1950s, she quickly became a favorite of the magazine’s discerning readers. Her finely honed writing, honestly drawn heroines, and distinctive themes secured her reputation. The Dart’s of Cupid collects seven of Templeton’s stories for the first time and reintroduces one of the truly great writers of the twentieth century. In settings ranging from a decrepit Bohemian castle between the wars to London during World War II to the Italian Riviera in the 1990s, the heroines of these stories often find themselves confronting unfathomable passsions and perplexing actions by others, but they seldom feel regret. From the Trade Paperback edition.Amazon.com ReviewAs a girl in 1920s Prague, Edith Templeton caused a scandal by writing a school essay about how well-heated her private academy was--during a coal strike. This turned out to be a predictive event: Templeton's fiction illuminates the political by way of the intensely personal. In the title story of the exquisite collection The Darts of Cupid, a young woman's love affair is shaped by the tragedies of World War II. (This particular piece is so personal that upon its 1968 publication in The New Yorker, it made history as the most explicit story ever published by that magazine.) Templeton's stories are filled with acid-tongued girls, cynical older men, and frighteningly acute observations, such as "malice is the luxury of underlings." Bitterly funny and steeped in modern history, The Darts of Cupid places Templeton squarely in the company of Maeve Brennan and Sybille Bedford. These recently rediscovered midcentury women writers made unflinching fiction. --Claire DedererFrom Publishers WeeklyRain dripping on cobblestones, the strains of violins in cafes, sexual games concealed beneath sophisticated conversation this is the European atmosphere of these seven exquisite stories by Prague-born Templeton, still active at 85. Though her characterizations are as sharp as her vision, she is a tantalizingly enigmatic storyteller, and the delicate tales on display in this first collection of her work gracefully evade categorization. In "Equality Cake," a woman revisits the Prague castle where she had grown up, and the effect is appropriately Kafkaesque: the Communist government has reversed the shabby gentility she recalled and restored it to a beauty she has never seen. The long title story was published in 1968 in the New Yorker, where her work had been appearing since the '50s, and achieved notoriety for its frank sexuality, although it is tame by current standards. The heroine is employed in a medical office of the U.S. Army in London and has a one-night sexual encounter with a married major, without further consequence. Though the story's gossiping women respond with giggles to teasing at the hands of male superior officers, they slyly "reveled in the knowledge that it is embarrassing for a man to be the head of a female staff." In other stories, sex, however brutal, is only implied, as when a mentally disturbed in-law attempts to rape the heroine, but clumsily breaks one of her ribs ("The Blue Hour"). And in "Nymph & Faun," an older widow disposes of unwanted possessions long stored, at one point observing, "Marriage is the tomb of love." These are elegantly written stories, small gems each. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Views: 43
The Judas Window by John Dickson Carr (writing as Carter Dickson).
One of the five best locked room mysteries, as selected by 14 established mystery authors and critics (All But Impossible!, 1981. ed. E. Hoch).
The Case: Avory Hume is found dead with an arrow through his heart—in a study with bolted steel shutters and a heavy door LOCKED FROM THE INSIDE. In the same room James Caplon Answell lies unconscious, his clothes disordered as though from a struggle.
The Attorney for the Defense: That gruff and grumbling old sleuth, Sir Henry Merrivale, who proves himself superb in court—even though his gown does tear with a rending noise as he rises majestically to open the case.
The Action: Before H.M. can begin his defense, Answell, his client, rises and cries out that he is guilty. Sir Henry doesn't believe it. But proof, circumstantial evidence, and the man's own confession point to his guilt. So the great, explosive detective gets down to serious sleuthing and at last startles the crowd in the Old Bailey with a reconstruction of the crime along logical, convincing lines. Views: 43
It's not a mid-life crisis if you're finally doing something you love, right? Separating from the Air Force after thirteen years may seem drastic to some, but Zoe Acevedo is finally doing something for herself. Opening an independent bookstore in Haven Springs, North Carolina is a major undertaking, but Zoe has a plan and a list. What she doesn't have is time for distractions like her interfering family, her cheating ex, or the sexy neighbor who always manages to find her in the most awkward situations. As a Haven Springs police officer, Tim Larken has dedicated his life to protecting and serving. He learned the hard way that the damsel in distress doesn't always want to be saved, but somehow he manages to help his curvy new neighbor out of one tight spot after another. Their attraction is undeniable, but when true disaster strikes will that be enough for two Imperfect Hearts to heal together? This is the final book in the Combat Hearts series.... Views: 43
First published in 1938 and 1956, neither Sea Priestess nor Moon Magic have been out of print and are enduring favorites among readers of esoteric fiction. 'New packages will update these classic novels and introduce them to a new generation of readers. Views: 43
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT...
She'd washed up on his beach with no name and no clue how she got there
-- and Andrew Davis's life would never be the same. The reclusive hero
was immediately drawn to the breathtaking stranger, but the fear he saw
reflected in her mesmerizing blue eyes told him she needed his
protection. Struggling to keep his desire at bay, Andrew threw himself
into discovering the truth behind his mystery woman. Before long, every
clue they turned up thrust them into a dangerous web of power,
deception...and murder. But how much would Andrew ultimately have to
sacrifice in order to save the woman he'd grown to love? Views: 43
Lady Rowena is locked in a battle of wills with Dominic of Capstow. The handsome knight is determined to escort her to court so she can face charges brought forth by her scheming stepfather. Rowena is infuriated, insulted, and intrigued. Dominic is by far the most attractive man she has ever encountered. He’s dangerous, appealing, and she needs him in her bed for reasons she dare not reveal. Views: 43
Enter an enchanted world of fairy animal friends!Sophie the Squirrel can't wait for the Misty Wood fair. She and her friends are going to perform a special dance. But when they try to practice, things keep going wrong. Sophie is upset—she's sure it's all her fault. Maybe some Misty Wood magic is what she needs . . . Views: 43
After the recent birth of her third child, Missouri genealogist Torie O'Shea is itching to get back to work. When she's approached to research and write a book about a recently deceased local woman who attained fame in the thirties and forties as a jazz singer, Torie figures she's found her new project. But her preliminary research turns up a startling piece of the woman's past: her infant son was kidnapped from his cradle in 1938 and never seen again. Back in the present day, the mayor of New Kassell, Bill Castlereagh, is fixing to legalize riverboat gambling in the small historic village, which has Torie and her neighbors up in arms, terrorized by visions of neon lights and dancing girls invading their quaint, picaresque town. Torie knows she has to do something to stop the mayor's plan before it gets started, but she's finding it hard to tear herself away from her research. She just can't stop herself from wondering what happened to that little baby all... Views: 43
Confronting a prowler in the backyard, Dinah is determined to find out why someone has taken an interest in her older sister and herself. Who is the buck-tooth burglar? Why are the Rinaldi's tomatoes always involved? And what is the connection between Madge's boyfriend and GASP, a group of well-intentioned anti-smoking activists? When it becomes apparent that Wellman Talent, the modeling agency Madge works for, is making deals with an unscrupulous tobacco company, and that the spy is out to sabotage GASP's plans to expose the connection, Dinah has to call on all her talents, both sleuthing and singing, to solve the case. In the spirit of Sammy Keyes, Dinah gets by on pluck, courage and an irrepressible sense of humor as she is catapulted into a mystery that twists and turns from the blackberry patch to the corporate boardroom. Views: 43
