Three brothers take shelter on a pretechnological world where dragons are worshiped as gods. When the off-world forces they have fled track them down, they must find a way to save the world they've made their own. Views: 141
After killing a man in the line of duty, Kurt Wallander resolves to quit the Ystad police. However, a bizarre case gets under his skin. A lawyer driving home at night stops to investigate an effigy sitting in a chair in the middle of the highway. The lawyer is hit over the head and dies. Within a week the lawyer’s son is also killed. These deeply puzzling mysteries compel Wallander to remain on the force. The prime suspect is a powerful corporate mogul with a gleaming smile that Wallander believes hides the evil glee of a killer. Joined by Ann-Britt Hoglund, Wallander begins to uncover the truth, but the same merciless individuals responsible for the murders are now closing in on him.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. First published in Sweden in 1994, Mankell's terrific fourth Kurt Wallender mystery opens with the kind of startling image typical of this internationally bestselling series (Firewall, etc.): a lawyer, driving home through the fog, stops after he sees "a human-sized effigy" propped on a chair in the middle of a deserted highway. Gustaf Torstensson gets out of the car to investigate, is hit from behind and was "dead before his body hit the damp asphalt." The police accept the assailant's claim that it was an accident, but when Torstensson's son, Sten, is shot dead just two weeks later, the brooding Wallender, who's on sick leave and vowing to retire from the Ystad police force, decides to pursue the killer and resume his career. The chief suspect—a powerful, globe-trotting Swedish businessman who's the smiling man of the title—leads Wallender on an exquisitely plotted search for motive and evidence. Dark and moody, this is crime fiction of the highest order. (Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistSwedish crime writer Mankell has taken U.S. publishing by storm over the last decade, launching a genre-altering invasion of his fellow Scandinavian mystery authors and (with other Europeans such as John Harvey and Andrea Camilleri) reinterpreting the notion of the hard-boiled hero. No longer the strong, silent, stand-up guy of American fiction, the new European hero, led by Mankell's Kurt Wallander, faces the horrors of the modern world with a sagging spirit, nearly overwhelmed. Lately, though, Mankell has rested Wallander, focusing instead on other cops in and around Ystad, Sweden, including Wallander's daughter, Linda, the star of Before the Frost (2005). Now the series returns to Wallander but backtracks in time. The Man Who Smiled, written in 1994, was the fourth in the series but is only now appearing in the U.S. It finds Wallander on the verge of quitting the Ystad police force; then a friend who had asked for his help is killed, and the would-be retiree is compelled to go back to work. The case that unfolds, involving a the head of a multinational corporation who traffics in the selling of human organs, opens yet another window on the unimaginable horrors of modern life, but this time Wallander responds with new resolve. Devotees of the series will be thrilled to pick up this missing chapter in the ongoing saga, but it is a bit disconcerting to keep the chronology straight. Still, any new Wallander novel--in whatever order--constitutes a major event in crime fiction. Bill OttCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 141
A passionate, off-beat love story set on the bleak and beautiful island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.Rose Leonard is on the run from her life. Haunted by her turbulent past, she takes refuge in a remote Hebridean island community where she cocoons herself in work, silence and solitude in a house by the sea. A new life and new love are offered by friends, her estranged daughter and most of all by Calum, a fragile younger man who has his own demons to exorcise. But does Rose, with her tenuous hold on sanity, have the courage to say "Yes" to life and put her past behind her?REVIEWS"The emotional power makes this reviewer reflect on how Charlotte and Emily Bronte might have written if they were living and writing now."Northwords Now"Complex and important issues are played out in the windswept beauty of a Hebridean island setting, with a hero who is definitely in the Mr Darcy league!"www.ScottishReaders.net Views: 141
Women are turning up dead, and Lisa O'Malley has a habit of walking into crime scenes, curious. She's a forensic pathologist, and mysteries are her domain. U.S. marshall Quinn Diamond has found loving her is easier than keeping her safe. Lisa's found the killer, and now she's missing too.Introducing the O'Malleys, an inspirational group of seven, all abandoned or orphaned as teens, who have made the choice to become a loyal and committed family. They have chosen their own surname, O'Malley, and have stood by each other through moments of joy and heartache. Their stories are told in CBA best-selling, inspirational romantic suspense novels that rock your heart and restore strength and hope to your spirit. Views: 141
Carnton Plantation, 1894: Carrie McGavock is an old woman who tends the graves of the almost 1,500 soldiers buried there. As she walks among the dead, an elderly man appears--the same soldier she met that fateful day long ago. Today, he asks if the cemetery has room for one more.Based on an extraordinary true story, this brilliant, meticulously researched novel flashes back to 1864 and the afternoon of the Civil War. While the fierce fighting rages on Carrie's land, her plantation turns into a Confederate army hospital; four generals lie dead on her back porch; the pile of amputated limbs rises as tall as the smoke house. But when a wounded soldier named Zachariah Cashwell arrives at her house, he awakens feelings she had thought long dead--and inspires a passion as powerful and unforgettable as the war that consumes a nation. Views: 141
*Barbara Park’s New York Times* bestselling chapter book series, Junie B. Jones, is a classroom favorite and has been keeping kids laughing—and reading—for more than twenty years. Over 60 million copies in print and now with a bright new look for a new generation!
**
Meet the World’s Funniest Kindergartner—Junie B. Jones! It’s kindergarten graduation, and Room Nine is getting bright white graduation gowns. Mrs. says to keep them in their boxes until the big day. But Junie B. Jones just can’t help herself. Then—uh-oh!—an accident happens! Will graduation be a spotty dotty disaster?
USA Today:
“Junie B. is the darling of the young-reader set.”
Publishers Weekly:
“Park convinces beginning readers that Junie B.—and reading—are lots of fun.”
Kirkus Reviews:
“Junie’s swarms of young fans will continue to delight in her unique take on the world. . . . A hilarious, first-rate read-aloud.”
Time:
“Junie B. Jones is a feisty six-year-old with an endearing penchant for honesty.”
**Amazon.com Review
Junie B. Jones and all of Room 9 are getting ready to graduate from kindergarten! Their teacher--known to our heroine as "Mrs."--distributes their fresh white caps and gowns ("Cats and gowns, cats and gowns!" Junie hollers), and makes her students promise to keep them in their boxes until the big day. But Junie B., being Junie B., is sure that just one peek on the way home won't soil her gown. And then she must show off to her stuffed animals with a lot of whirling and skipping, which of course makes her thirsty. But guess what? "Grape juice can go wrong."
The 17th title in Barbara Park's popular Junie B. Jones beginning chapter book series is filled with more messy antics from the irrepressible 6-year-old with the rather unusual speaking style. She may be trouble, but Junie B. Jones has definite six-appeal. Don't miss any of the titles in this lively series, from Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in Her Pocket to Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying to Junie B. Jones Is Captain Field Day. Denise Brunkus's witty drawings deftly capture the tragicomedies of kindergarten life. Although the cute-precocious style may eventually grate on grownups' nerves, kids won't tire of Junie B.'s everyday adventures. (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter
Review
From USA TODAY:
"Junie B. is the darling of the young-reader set."
From Publisher' Weekly:
"Park convinces beginning readers that Junie B.—and reading—are lots of fun."
From Kirkus Reviews:
"Junie's swarms of young fans will continue to delight in her unique take on the world....A hilarious, first-rate read- aloud."
From Booklist:
"Park, one of the funniest writers around . . . brings her refreshing humor to the beginning chapter-book set."
From Time magazine:
"Junie B. Jones is a feisty six-year-old with an endearing penchant for honesty."
From School Library Journal:
"Park is truly a funny writer. Although Junie B. is a kindergartner, she's sure to make middle graders laugh out loud." Views: 140
In this extraordinary book, Alexander Masters has created a moving portrait of a troubled man, an unlikely friendship, and a desperate world few ever see. A gripping who-done-it journey back in time, it begins with Masters meeting a drunken Stuart lying on a sidewalk in Cambridge, England, and leads through layers of hell...back through crimes and misdemeanors, prison and homelessness, suicide attempts, violence, drugs, juvenile halls and special schools--to expose the smiling, gregarious thirteen-year-old boy who was Stuart before his long, sprawling, dangerous fall. Shocking, inspiring, and hilarious by turns, Stuart: A Life Backwards is a writer's quest to give voice to a man who, beneath his forbidding exterior, has a message for us all: that every life--even the most chaotic and disreputable--is a story worthy of being told.From the Hardcover edition. Views: 139
A Touch of Fae Lauren Dane The second in the Witches Knot series. Em Charvez has grown up in the shadow of the strong willed and colorful Charvez women and she feels a bit invisible. While on the hunt for a book of magic that could well destroy the Compact that gives them their power, she meets Conchobar MacNessa, a ten-thousand-year-old Faerie warrior, and suddenly she's not quite so invisible. Things heat up between Con and Em as the battle over the book-the battle between good and evil- takes shape around them… Note: This book contains a brief instance of explicit m/m intimacy. Views: 139
'Dead Europe sets sharp realism against folk tale and fable, a world of hauntings and curses against a fiercely political portrait of a society. The energy in the writing, the pure fire in the narrative voice and the fearlessness of the tone make the novel immensely readable, as well as fascinating and original, and establish Christos Tsiolkas in the first rank of contemporary novelists.' Colm Toibin Isaac is a photographer in his mid-thirties, travelling through Europe. It is the post-Cold War Europe of a united currency, illegal immigration and of a globalised homogenous culture. In his mother's mountain village he encounters a Balkan vampire. Subsequently, as his journey continues across Italy, Eastern Europe and Britain he discovers that ghosts keep appearing in the photographs he takes, providing clues to a family secret and tragedy. Parallel to Isaac's story we are in the Greece of World War II. A peasant family is asked to provide protection to a Jewish boy fleeing... Views: 139
MY NIECE WANTS ME TO GET MARRIED!I, Shana Berrie, am my sister's official navy "parenting plan." That means I'm in charge of adorable Jazmine until my sis returns. But--surprise!--nine-year-olds have lots of opinions, including ones on my love life (or lack thereof). Now she's trying to set me up with our family friend, Adam Kennedy. Excuse me--Lieutenant Commander Adam Kennedy. So he's great looking and very helpful (if dictatorial), but I am not in the market for a navy husband. Views: 139
Maura Ryan was the queen of the criminal underworld when she pulled off
the most audacious gold bullion robbery of all time. Since then she's
retired from a life of crime to be with the only man she's ever loved.
But enemies from her past are closing in and they're about to learn that
they should never cross Maura Ryan. The dangerous lady is back and
she's as lethal as ever... Views: 139
Hugh Stowell Scott (9 May 1862 – 19 November 1903) was an English novelist (under the pseudonym Henry Seton Merriman) Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he became an underwriter at Lloyd\'s of London, but then devoted himself to travel and to writing novels, many of which had great popularity. Scott visited India as a tourist in 1877-78 and set his novel Flotsam (1896) there. He was an enthusiastic traveller, many of his journeys being undertaken with his friend and fellow author Stanley J. Weyman. Scott married Ethel Frances Hall (1865-1943) on 19 June 1889. The couple had no children. Scott was unusually modest and retiring in character. He died of appendicitis, aged 41, at Melton, Suffolk. Upon his death, Scott left £5000 to Evelyn Beatrice Hall, his sister-in-law and fellow writer, best known for her biographical work The Friends of Voltaire, writing that the legacy was "in token of my gratitude for her continued assistance and literary advice, without which I should never have been able to have made a living by my pen. Views: 137
