Amazon.com ReviewMurder in the midst of merriment can be the most shocking sort, and so it is in the case of Jacob Bransby--brutally strangled with a length of wire while on board a train carriage crowded with lowlife Londoners, all bound for an illegal bare-knuckle prizefight in Berkshire in 1852. That the deceased's wallet was not purloined leaves Scotland Yard Inspector Robert Colbeck wondering at the motive for this heinous act--and, soon, additional crimes--in The Excursion Train, Edward Marston's second witty, railroad-tied Colbeck escapade (after The Railway Detective).It doesn't take the foppish flatfoot long, though, to realize that "Bransby" was an alias, behind which hid a veteran public executioner, notorious both for his religious mania and his appalling incompetence with a hangman's noose. While the deceased's suffering spouse lives in denial of her husband's invidious deeds and macabre mementos, and their estranged son operates under his wife's maiden name in order to avoid being treated "as if I was a leper," Colbeck--assisted, as usual, by tenacious Sergeant Victor Leeming--does everything he can to expose the dead man's secrets, and thus flush out a killer. Could this homicide have been committed in retribution for the botched hanging in Kent, a month before, of butcher Nathan Hawkshaw, a generally upstanding individual convicted (despite his protestations of innocence) of hacking to death the alleged rapist of his 16-year-old stepdaughter, Emily? The inspector can only determine that, it seems, by first revisiting the Hawkshaw case--an endeavor that will lead to Leeming's inauspicious beating, an attempted suicide, Colbeck's employment of Madeleine Andrews (the comely conductor's daughter he rescued in The Railway Detective) as his investigative confederate, and yet another slaying on the tracks.Brimming with whimsical dialogue, full-throttle turns, and a droll cast (especially delightful is priggish police superintendent Edward Tallis), The Excursion Train might only be faulted for the artlessness of its romantic subplot. British novelist Marston, best known for his Elizabethan theater mysteries (The Counterfeit Crank), has struck a rich, arcane vein of possibilities by rooting the Colbeck books in the world of railroads--the transformational technology of mid-19th-century England. Colbeck and Leeming have the opportunity in future installments to steam off after malefactors in any queer corner of Victorian Britain. All aboard! --J. Kingston PierceReviewAn excellent choice for fans of British historicals. -- Library JournalReaders will be in for a pleasant ride back in time and into the heart of an exciting mystery. -- Iloveamystery.com Views: 476
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. Views: 475
UNC\' BILLY POSSUM IS CAUGHT THE Green Meadows were thrown into great excitement late one afternoon, just as the black shadows came creeping down from the Purple Hills. Reddy Fox brought the news, and when he told it he grinned as if he enjoyed it and was glad of it. "Old Billy Possum is dead. I know it because I saw Farmer Brown\'s boy carrying him home by the tail," said Reddy. "So you see he wasn\'t so smart as you thought he was," he added maliciously. No one really believed Reddy Fox, for every one knows that he seldom tells the truth, but when Jimmy Skunk came mournfully down the Crooked Little Path and said that it was true, they had to believe it. Then everybody began to talk about Unc\' Billy and say nice things about him and tell how much they had enjoyed having him live in the Green Forest since he came up from "Ol\' Virginny." That is, everybody but Reddy Fox said so. Reddy said that it served Unc\' Billy right, because he was of no account, anyway. Then everybody began to hoot and hiss at Reddy until he was glad enough to slink away. And while they were all saying such nice things about him, Unc\' Billy Possum was having an exciting adventure. For once he had been too bold. He had gone up to Farmer Brown\'s hen-house before dark. Jimmy Skunk had tried to stop him, but he had heeded Jimmy Skunk not at all. He had said that he was hungry and wanted an egg, and he couldn\'t wait till dark to get it. So off he had started, for Unc\' Billy Possum is very headstrong and obstinate. He had reached the hen-house and slipped inside without being seen. The nests were full of eggs, and soon Unc\' Billy was enjoying his feast so that he forgot to keep watch. Suddenly the door opened, and in stepped Farmer Brown\'s boy to get some eggs for supper. There was no time to run. Unc\' Billy just dropped right down in his tracks as if he were dead. When Farmer Brown\'s boy saw him, he didn\'t know what to make of him, for he had never seen Unc\' Billy before. "Well, well, I wonder what happened to this fellow," said Farmer Brown\'s boy, turning Unc\' Billy over with the toe of one foot. "He certainly is dead enough, whatever killed him. I wonder what he was doing in here." Then he saw some egg on Unc\' Billy\'s lips. "Ho! ho!" shouted Farmer Brown\'s boy. "So you are the thief who has been getting my eggs!" And picking up Unc\' Billy by the tail, he started with him for the house. As they passed the woodpile, he tossed Unc\' Billy on the chopping-block while he gathered an armful of kindlings to take to the house. When he turned to pick up Unc\' Billy again, Unc\' Billy wasn\'t there. Farmer Brown\'s boy dropped his wood and hunted everywhere, but not a trace of Unc\' Billy could he find. II REDDY FOX THINKS HE SEES A GHOST REDDY FOX came down the Lone Little Path through the Green Forest on his way to the Green Meadows. He had brushed his red coat until it shone. His white waistcoat was spotless, and he carried his big tail high in the air, that it might not become soiled. Reddy was feeling as fine as he looked.... Views: 475
Winner of the Bancroft Prize. "[A] beautifully conceived and penetrating book . . . one of the finest studies of American slavery ever written."—The New Republic Published some thirty years ago, Robert Manson Myers's Children of Pride: The True Story of Georgia and the Civil War won the National Book Award in history and went on to become a classic reference on America's slaveholding South. That book presented the letters of the prominent Presbyterian minister and plantation patriarch Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863), whose family owned more than one hundred slaves. While extensive, these letters can provide only one part of the story of the Jones family plantations in coastal Georgia. In this remarkable new book, the religious historian Erskine Clarke completes the story, offering a narrative history of four generations of the plantations' inhabitants, white and black. Encompassing the years 1805 to 1869, Dwelling... Views: 474
Previously published as A Proper Englishwoman in the anthology * Talk of the Ton *.
Betrothed since they were children, Gilbert Baring-Gould, Earl of Kerr, and the Honorable Emma Loudan are not quite what one would call a perfect match. The whole Ton knows him to be a complete rakehell, hardly the ideal spouse for a lady.
When he horrifies the Ton by announcing that he won’t go through with the marriage until Emma is carrying his child — or did he say that she was already carrying a child? — the gossips (and Emma) go wild.
Obviously she should hand this Beelzebub his ring back directly. But curiosity, and a strong wish to teach her brazen-faced fiancé some manners, demand that she beat him at his own game.
So she does.
It’s the story of a reluctant bridegroom (engaged since childhood, and hasn’t seen his fiancée in years), a bride who’s losing her patience, and a wild night in which the said bridegroom meets a wicked, delicious Frenchwoman…or is she? Views: 474
The Girl of the Golden West is a theatrical play written, produced and directed by David Belasco and later made into an opera, La fanciulla del West, by Puccini. The four-act melodrama set in the California Gold Rush opened at the old Belasco Theatre in New York on November 14, 1905 and ran for 224 performances. Blanche Bates originated the role of The Girl, Robert C. Hilliard played Dick Johnson, and Frank Keenan played Jack Rance. Bates was joined by Charles Millward and Cuyler Hastings for two-week Broadway runs in 1907 and 1908. William Furst composed the play\'s incidental music. The play toured throughout the US for several years, and was made into four films, in 1915, 1923, 1930 and 1938. Belasco wrote a novel based on the play in 1911. Views: 472
James Baldwin was self-educated and one of the most prolific writers of school books for children in the 20th century. Views: 471
Enter the world of "Elsie Dinsmore"! These nineteenth-century fictional chronicles of a beautiful young heiress in the Civil War South have captivated generations of 10- to 14-year-old readers eager to follow Elsie\'s life from childhood to motherhood and beyond. Covers feature custom illustrations."Elsie\'s Children, Book 6" Pleasant times and new babies are mixed with dark secrets and deep sorrow. Will Elsie be strong in the Lord? Views: 471
Enter the world of "Elsie Dinsmore"! These nineteenth-century fictional chronicles of a beautiful young heiress in the Civil War South have captivated generations of 10- to 14-year-old readers eager to follow Elsie\'s life from childhood to motherhood and beyond. Covers feature custom illustrations."Elsie\'s Motherhood, Book 5" Happily married to Edward, Elsie takes great delight in her family. What will happen when they are confronted by a powerful adversary? Views: 470
With Freedom's Gate, acclaimed author Naomi Kritzer introduced a dangerous world of magic and intrigue. Now she continues the story of Lauria, a bold young woman who has turned against a way of life she once believed in....FREEDOM'S APPRENTICEOnce the trusted aide to powerful military commander Kyros, freeborn Lauria hunted down his escaped slaves. But during a mission to infiltrate the bandit tribe known as the Alashi, Lauria's loyalties shifted. When her identity was discovered, she was cast out by both sides. Now Lauria is determined to regain the trust of the Alashi, and, with the help of her blood-sister Tamar, liberate those she once returned to captivity. But they cannot accomplish the daunting task alone. Desperate for a spell-chain to free a mine slave, Lauria turns to her enemies--the Sisterhood of Weavers--and apprentices herself to a sorceress. But learning to harness magic will come at a greater price than she ever... Views: 470
A PC school principal turns West Side Story into a comedy of errors.
Sixteen year-old Jessica dreams of Hollywood fame, and when Jordan moves into her small town, she dreams of him too. He's a movie star's son, and hey, he's gorgeous to boot. Jordan has always wanted to get out from the shadow cast by his superstar father, but now that he and his mother have moved so far away from LA, how can he get his divorced parents back together? Jessica convinces Jordan the way to get his father to come for a long visit is to be a part of the school play. And if she's "discovered" in the process, all the better. Things go wrong when she lets Jordan's secret identity slip, and grow even more disastrous when the principal tries to change West Side Story into a gangfree, violence-free, politically correct production.
In the same romantic and sharply witty spirit of Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Throws, Janette Rallison delivers another comic gem that teen readers are sure to love. Views: 469
"Tucker, I want to tell you a secret." Miss Ella curled my hand into a fist and showed it to me.
"Life is a battle, but you can't fight it with your fists. You got to fight it with your heart."
An internationally famous photographer, Tucker Mason has traveled the world, capturing things other people don’t see. But what Tucker himself can’t see is how to let go of the past and forgive his father.
On a sprawling Southern estate, Tucker and his younger brother, Mutt, were raised by their housekeeper, Miss Ella Rain, who loved the motherless boys like her own. Hiring her to take care of Waverly Hall and the boys was the only good thing their father ever did.
When his brother escapes from a mental hospital and an old girlfriend appears with her son and a black eye, Tucker is forced to return home and face the agony of his own tragic past.
Though Miss Ella has been gone for many years, Tuck can still hear her voice—and her prayers. But finding peace and starting anew will take a measure of grace that Tucker scarcely believes in. Views: 469
This novel of young men seeking glory in the Republic of Texas is "a surprisingly absorbing rendition of a terrible episode in American history" (The Oregonian).The Diezmo tells the incredible story of the Mier Expedition, one of the most absurd and tragic military adventures in the history of Texas—a country and a state, as Rick Bass writes, that was "born in blood." In the early days of the Republic of Texas, two young men, wild for glory, impulsively volunteer for an expedition Sam Houston has ordered to patrol the Mexican border. But their dreams of triumph soon fade into prayers for survival, and all that is on their minds is getting home and having a cool drink of water.After being captured in a raid on the Mexican village of Mier, escaping, and being recaptured, the men of the expedition are punished with the terrible diezmo, in which one man in ten is randomly chosen to die. The survivors end up in the most dreaded prison in Mexico.... Views: 468
The first book, Raising Dragons, plunged two teenagers, Billy Bannister and Bonnie Silver, into mind-boggling mysteries, life or death pursuits, and deadly sword-to-sword battles.
In the second book, The Candlestone, Billy is led into mortal combat with a powerful dragon slayer. Separated from his friends and finding his dragon traits useless against this enemy, he has to rely on new weapons, a sword and shield he cannot even see.
Now in Circles of Seven, using their dragon traits and the wisdom they gained through their earlier adventures, Billy and Bonnie explore a multi-dimensional domain of evil. In this realm, they navigate seven perilous worlds, each one manifested in a circular plane of existence that leads them deeper into the domain of a powerful enemy.
The seventh circle holds a group of prisoners, captives of the evil mistress of the circles, and Billy has to find a way to set them free and give them new life. When tragedy strikes along the way, Billy has to face the most difficult decision of his life, whether to forsake Bonnie to rescue the prisoners or to find a way to save her, his best friend in the world.
Filled with action, danger, and suspense, Circles of Seven is sure to keep readers in their seats, following Billy and Bonnie to the exciting conclusion. Views: 468
