Second in the pawsitively charming new feline mystery series set off the New England coast, where curiosity leads to some killer small-town secrets.... It's the grand opening of Daybreak Island's cat café, where customers can get cozy with an assortment of friendly felines—and maybe even take one or a few home. Co-owner Maddie James is purring with excitement over her new warm-and-fuzzy venture. . .until she becomes entangled in a petty drama between one of her volunteers, an ardent animal-rights activist, and a wealthy woman who insists on adopting a calico kitty—right this instant. The catfight that ensues is bad enough for business. But when the snubbed socialite is found dead with a tell-tale catnip toy on the scene, suspicion lands squarely on Maddie's staffer. Now, with her reputation and her career prospects on the line (to say nothing of her budding romance with a handsome pet groomer) Maddie must do whatever ittakes... Views: 27
E-book exclusive extras: Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on The Body in the Library; "The Marples": the complete guide to all the cases of crime literature's foremost female detective.The very-respectable Colonel and Mrs Bantry have awakened to discover the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cold cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is her connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry? The Bantrys turn to Miss Marple to solve the mystery. Views: 27
Only the strong survie on the streets of Brooklyn. And while Dena Jones definitely has what it takes not only to survive but to succeed, she wants out. And she's determined to make it out of Crooklyn. She's determined to make it out of Crooklyn by any means necessary and doesn't have a problem manipulating men to get what she wants. Just ask her boyfriend Lance, or his girlfriend Michelle.True has finally made it. His debut album has the streets going crazy and is threatening to spill over into the mainstream. After the murder of his group, his jump off and almost his dreams, True's life is finally starting to look up, until karma catches up with him. Somebody wants him dead and he doesn't know why, or does he? Jah and Yoshi's was supposed to be a romance straight out of a story but there are no such things as fairy tails in the ghetto. Her position as a stylist keeps her in the mix and in the company of some industry heavyweights. Jah tries to be understanding but... Views: 27
ParisDear Alice,Each morning I am awakened by the sound of a tinkling bell. A cheerful sound, it reminds me of the bells that shopkeepers attach to their doors at Christmastime. In this case, the bell marks the opening of the hotel door. From my room, which is just off the winding staircase, I can hear it clearly. It reminds me of the bell that calls to worship the novice embarking on a new life. In a way I too am a novice, leaving, temporarily, one life for another.Love,AliceIn the tradition of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea and Frances Mayes's Under the Tuscan Sun, in Without Reservations we take time off with Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Steinbach as she explores the world and rediscovers what it means to be a woman on her own."In many ways, I was an independent woman," writes Alice Steinbach, a single working mother, in this captivating book. "For years I'd made my own choices, paid my own bills, shoveled my own... Views: 27
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Book2012 Notable Children's Books—ALSCNCSS—Notable Social Studies Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies 2012School Library Journal Best Books of 2011SLJ’s 100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2011Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2011In the little colonial town of Salem Village, Massachusetts, two girls began to twitch, mumble, and contort their bodies into strange shapes. The doctor tried every remedy, but nothing cured the young Puritans. He grimly announced the dire diagnosis: the girls were bewitched! And then the accusations began.The riveting, true story of the victims, accused witches, crooked officials, and mass hysteria that turned a mysterious illness affecting two children into a witch hunt that took over a dozen people’s lives and ruined hundreds more unfolds in chilling detail in this young adult book by award-winning author and illustrator Rosalyn Schanzer.With a powerful narrative, chilling primary source accounts, a design evoking the period, and stylized black-white-and-red scratchboard illustrations of young girls having wild fits in the courtroom, witches flying overhead, and the Devil and his servants terrorizing the Puritans, this book will rivet young readers with novelistic power.Taught in middle and high schools around the U.S., the 17th-century saga remains hauntingly resonant as people struggle even today with the urgent need to find someone to blame for their misfortunes. In addition to the Sibert Honor, Witches! has been honored by the Society of Illustrators with their Original Art Award Gold Medal, has been named a Notable book by both the American Library Association and the National Council for the Social Studies, and was chosen one ofSchool Library Journal's 100 Magnificent Children's Books and one of Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Children's Books. *Q&A with the Rosalyn Schanzer, the award-winning author of "Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem"Q: How did you get interested in the Salem Witch Trials? *They were just too jaw-dropping to ignore. Who wouldn’t wonder why a four year old girl and three dogs were accused of being witches? Why were most people who confessed that they had committed the crime of witchcraft set free while just about everyone who proclaimed their innocence was imprisoned? Did a shadowy beast really spring up into the sky and split apart into the spirits of three different witches? The more material I dug up about this incredible story, the more curious I became.Q: You have written and illustrated lots of books about history’s greatest heroes and adventurers. How was it different for you to write about witches instead?Funny you should ask. I’ve always favored upbeat picture books about fascinating people I would love to meet; bold explorers, great escape artists, brilliant scientists, or powerful movers and shakers. But this new book is dark in every possible way. The entire story is about wickedness and superstition run amok. Even the artwork is mostly black. Would I like to meet the characters inside these pages? Only if I could be as invisible as the supposed spirits who were swooping through the air to torment their victims. Q: What was the most unusual thing you learned while writing this book?Everything about Salem in 1692 was far beyond unusual. The Puritans thought the devil and his witches lurked in every nook and cranny, just waiting to afflict innocent children with a dread disease. Unearthly phantoms claimed that they were murdered when a woman stared at them with her evil “eye beams.” Black hogs, gigantic dogs, and a winged creature with the head of a woman urged pious Puritans to sign the devil’s book. How could such things have happened?Q: How did you do research for "Witches!"? Did you get to visit Salem?I did get to go to Salem and Danvers (formerly Salem Village), and I met with some highly knowledgeable folks who showed me the most genuine historic sites in the area. I also pored over 38 of the most scholarly books and the most historic documents and trial transcripts I could lay my hands on. There’s a lot of inaccurate material floating around about the witch trials, so it’s imperative to ferret out the truth as diligently as possible.Q: Why is it important for kids to learn about true stories like this one?As with all stories from history, we need to know what caused the worst disasters so that such things are less likely to happen again.Q: What are kids going to love most about this book?From the Brothers Grimm to today’s stories about vampires and werewolves, everyone has always loved scary stuff. But the thing that makes this particular story so terrifying is that unlike the rest, everything about it is entirely TRUE.About the AuthorRosalyn Schanzer is the award-winning author and illustrator of 16 books for young people, including How We Crossed the West which garnered starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal, and George versus George: The American Revolution as Seen From Both Sides, an ALA Notable Book, SLJ Book of the Year, NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, and Orbis Pictus Recommended book. She was recently awarded the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators for her work on Witches. Roz lives in Virginia with her husband, Steve, in a house surrounded by birds. Views: 27
Joel Burns has always believed his father is still alive. His mother Jackie has long been glad to know Gilberto is dead.When a sighting on a news report from Rio de Janeiro suggests Joel might be right, he travels to Brazil determined to find his long-lost father. Nelson, a down-and-out musician guided by the spirits of Jesus, Yemanja and his late Aunt Zila, helps Joel retrace his childhood steps — and face up to the contrast between his rosy memories of Gilberto and his mother's accounts of the man's cruelty. Back at home in Brighton, Joel's trip stirs up Jackie's own recollections of her life in Rio — from the beautiful early years of Gilberto trying to make it in the bossa nova scene, to the violent times following his arrest and imprisonment by the military authorities.Invisibles spans two cities by the sea and four decades of music, torture and romance. From the streets of Brighton to the bars of Rio, Ed Siegle weaves the rhythms of Brazil and the troubles of his... Views: 27
Journalist Peter Godwin has covered wars. As a soldier, he's fought them. But nothing prepared him for the surreal mix of desperation and hope he encountered when he returned to Zimbabwe, his broken homeland. Godwin arrived as Robert Mugabe, the country's dictator for 30 years, has finally lost an election. Mugabe's tenure has left Zimbabwe with the world's highest rate of inflation and the shortest life span. Instead of conceding power, Mugabe launched a brutal campaign of terror against his own citizens. With foreign correspondents banned, and he himself there illegally, Godwin was one of the few observers to bear witness to this period the locals call The Fear. He saw torture bases and the burning villages but was most awed as an observer of not only simple acts of kindness but also churchmen and diplomats putting their own lives on the line to try to stop the carnage.THE FEAR is a book about the astonishing courage and resilience of a people, armed with nothin... Views: 27
"In Phaire's new novel, Blind Delusion, things are not what they appear to be in this multi-layered psychological thriller of murder, obsession, and romance where a lonely clinical psychologist realizes it can be more frightening to reveal her soul than to face death. Views: 27
Len Deighton's classic first novel, whoseprotagonist is a nameless spy – later christened Harry Palmer and made famous worldwide in the iconic 1960s film starring Michael Caine.The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton's first novel, it was his first bestseller and the book that broke the mould of thriller writing.For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing biochemist becomes a journey to the heart of a dark and deadly conspiracy.The film of The Ipcress File gave Michael Caine one of his first and still most celebrated starring roles, while the novel itself has become a classic. Views: 27
