Crispin Guest is a disgraced knight, stripped of his rank and his honor - but left with his life - for plotting against Richard II. Having lost his bethrothed, his friends, his patrons and his position in society. With no trade to support him and no family willing to acknowledge him, Crispin has turned to the one thing he still has - his wits - to scrape a living together on the mean streets of London. In 1383, Guest is called to the compound of a merchant - a reclusive mercer who suspects that his wife is being unfaithful and wants Guest to look into the matter. Not wishing to sully himself in such disgraceful, dishonorable business but in dire need of money, Guest agrees and discovers that the wife is indeed up to something, presumably nothing good. But when he comes to inform his client, he is found dead - murdered in a sealed room, locked from the inside. Now Guest has come to the unwanted attention of the Lord Sheriff of London and most recent client was murdered while he was working for him. And everything seems to turn on a religious relic - a veil reported to have wiped the brow of Christ - that is now missing.
From Publishers Weekly Crispin Guest, a former knight who was stripped of his rank after being implicated in a plot against Richard II, now makes his living as a tracker, the medieval equivalent of a PI, in Westerson's promising debut, set in 1384 London. Nicholas Walcote, a wealthy cloth merchant, hires Guest to investigate his younger and attractive wife, Philippa, whom he suspects of infidelity. Guest's cursory probe is derailed after his client is found stabbed to death in a locked room. Philippa retains Guest's services to find her husband's killer, who may have been motivated by Walcote's possessing a legendary relic reputed to force those in its proximity to tell the truth. While featuring a hard-boiled medieval sleuth instead of a monk or a nun may not be quite as groundbreaking as the author suggests in her afterword (e.g., Susanna Gregory's 14th-century Cambridge physician Matthew Bartholomew), this is nonetheless an entertaining read that makes the prospect of sequels welcome. Views: 4
Harry Harrison’s bestselling Stainless Steel Rat series has earned rave reviews and a legion of fans, and has catapulted the Rat himself, an antisocial rule breaker in an overcivilized world, to fame, if not fortune. Now the fabled futuristic criminal is back, in the long-awaited new adventure of intergalactic danger, intrigue, and—after a fashion—rock stardom. DiGriz is in the process of robbing the new Mint on Paskonjak when the heist goes terribly wrong. Threatened with a horrific death, Slippery Jim is allowed to cut a deal with the Galactic League: voyage to the planet Liokukae and bring back a missing artifact—the only known evidence of alien life-forms found in 32,000 years of galactic exploration. For diGriz there are a few catches. One is Liokukae itself—a dumping ground for the League’s misfits, murderers, maniacs, and the incurably obnoxious. Another is a little matter of life and death. To ensure the utterly untrustworthy diGriz’s cooperation, the League has given him a slow-acting poison, allowing him thirty days in which to succeed… or die. Now the Stainless Steel Rat is on his way to a world that is hurtling backward down the evolutionary scale—a land of fanatic, goat-herding Fundamentaloids, murderous Machmen, and a rusty guru named Iron John. DiGriz has developed an almost perfect cover: a four-member rock band that has a way of giving its audiences what they want to hear. But while the days tick away and diGriz’s life expectancy lowers, the mission evolves from finding an artifact to liberating a planet… which is a tune the Stainless Steel Rat most certainly knows how to sing. Zany, irreverent, and hilarious, the Stainless Steel Rat series continues as the most entertaining futuristic performance ever staged. And in The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues Harry Harrison takes the adventure to new levels of inventiveness and delight. Views: 4
Lucifer, the Anointed Cherub, whose ministry in heaven is devoted to the worship of the Most High God, has become pessimistic about his prospects in heaven. Ambition inflamed, he looks to the soon-to-be-created Earth as a place where he can see his destiny realized. With a willing crew of equally ambitious angels, Lucifer creates a fifth-column of malcontents under the very throne of God. Hot on their heels, however, is a group of loyalists, led by Michael and Gabriel, who are suspicious of Lucifer's true motives. In detective style fashion they slowly start to unmask the true nature of Lucifer's sordid plot. Chronicles of the Host is a fantastic novel of the beginning of all things. Follow Lucifer's deceptive plans to rule over Earth and his inevitable fall from grace. Views: 4
Few writers have captured the flavor of the American Southwest better than Aimee and David Thurlo, in both mysteries and romantic suspense.Josephine Buck runs a trading post just off the Navajo Reservation. Widow Leigh Ann Vance is Jo's right-hand-woman, filling the emptiness in her own life. Shortly after her husband, Kurt, was killed, Leigh Ann discovered he had been having a string of affairs. Leigh Ann's trust issues affect her feelings for blind sculptor Melvin Littlewater.Kurt's business partners accuse Leigh Ann of helping Kurt embezzle and the police wonder if Leigh Ann killed him. When she turns to Melvin for help, she finds him fighting his own demons, haunted by memories of a young girl he saw moments before the car crash that cost him his sight. Together, Leigh Ann and Melvin delve into the darkest moments of their pasts, searching for truth and light. Views: 4
New Term. New Dramas. New Friendships. And that's just the parents...After a year of country living, Rachel Young is finally getting into the swing of things. Her four kids are happy and content at the village school, and she's managed to navigate the choppy (shark-infested) waters of the playground mafia.Or... so she thought.When Penelope Kensington moves herself and her kids into Rachel's home, after discovering husband Rupert has been having an affair, Rachel knows she must ask them politely to leave. The problem is, Penelope never takes no for an answer.As Rachel tries to deal with Penelope, she also meets new school mum Mel. Mel is a breath of fresh air but her arrival sends ripples of gossip through the playground. Mel has a few secrets in her closet, and it seems she's not the only one...Hilarious and entertaining, with characters you won't forget in a hurry, fans of Fiona Gibson, Kerry Fisher and Tracy Bloom will love this book.Read what everyone is... Views: 4
What did it mean? The note with the hieroglyphs was found in the pocket of a man lying dead in an alley. The only other item of interest on him was a piece of jewellery, a reproduction of the Charlemagne talisman, but so well done that Vicky Bliss thought she was being shown the real thing. The gold work had been done by a master craftsman; the stones were of top quality synthetic...Vicky didn't know what it meant yet, but ion the sundrenched streets and moonlit courtyards of Rome, she was going to find out - if the dangerously exciting Englishman didn't get in her way! Views: 4
Nola and Tina are both girls with problems. They don't know each other yet, but they will, because each is a Creator, with the magical ability to turn dreams into reality. It would be a great gift and a great power—if either knew she had it. But this world is hard on dreamers, whether they dream true or not. Nola is trapped in a terrible, abusive relationship with a man she once loved; Tina is an orphan who makes her living on the street. All their dreams are slowly being ground into dust. It's a common enough tragedy, a sorrow and a grief and a shame upon the world, no matter whom it happens to. But when dreams themselves die, when the great dreamers stop dreaming, whole universes of imagination are lost. And the land of Nola and Tina's dreams is fighting back. Into their miserable everyday world soars Esprit, a winged unicorn dark as the space between the stars. He is the vessel of Nola's dreams, come to aid her in her battle with sordid reality. Following after him... Views: 4
“Troy meant one thing only to the men gathered here, as it did to their commanders. Troy was a dream of wealth; and if the wind continued the dream would crumble.”As the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young and innocent woman – blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. And when Iphigeneia, Agamemnon’s beloved daughter, is brought to the coast under false pretences, and when a knife is fashioned out of the finest and most precious of materials, it looks as if the ships will soon be on their way. But can a father really go to these lengths to secure political victory, and can a daughter willingly give up her life for the worldly ambitions of her father?Throwing off the heroic values we expect of them, Barry Unsworth’s mythic characters embrace the political ethos of the twenty-first century and speak in words we recognize as our own. The blowhard Odysseus warns the men to not “marginalize” Agamemnon and to “strike while the bronze is hot.” High-sounding principles clash with private motives, and dark comedy ensues. Here is a novel that stands the world on its head.From the Hardcover edition. Views: 4
This much requested fan favourite has been brought bang up to date with a new cover. When a massive force of Space Marine Iron Warriors invade the planet Hydra Cordatus, and lays siege to the Imperial citadel, how long can the defenders possibly hold out, and what do their enemies truly seek? Views: 4
