A Gilded Age ghost helps psychic painter Celeste Cabot catch a killer . . Rising up against the beautiful backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Biltmore Estate is a magnificent mansion in Asheville, North Carolina, built as a summer home for George Washington Vanderbilt II—yes, of those Vanderbilts—during the Gilded Age. Nowadays, it's the site of an annual craft fair. Unfortunately, it's also about to become a crime scene . . . Celeste is hard to miss as she pulls up with her pink and white Shasta trailer and adorable Chihuahua, Van Gogh—Van for short. But before she can show off her artwork at the fair, a tour guide is found strangled by a velvet rope barrier and a valuable painting goes missing. With a rogues' gallery of sketchy suspects, Celeste welcomes the help of a pair of handsome detectives—and a ghost with a special interest in the case . . . Includes tips and recipes!... Views: 243
On an ordinary day in June of 1964 in a small town in the Altiplano of Peru, Sister Mary Katherine (formerly known as Kate), a young American nun recently arrived in this very foreign place, walks away from her convent with no money and no destination. Desperate and afraid of her feelings for an Irish priest with whom she has been working, she spends eight days on the run, encountering a variety of characters along the way: a cynical Englishman who helps her out; a suspicious Peruvian police officer who takes her in for questioning; and two American Peace Corps workers who befriend her. As Kate traverses this dangerous physical journey through Peru, she also embarks upon an interior journey of self-discovery—one that leads her somewhere she never could have expected. Views: 243
The first biography of Alaric to appear in English tells the history of the fourth- and fifth-century Roman Empire through the life of the Goth who attacked it.In the conventional story of Rome's collapse, violent "barbarians" destroy "civilization." Yet from a different point of view, those stale generalities become a history shockingly alive and relevant.Alaric grew up near the river border that separated Gothic territory from the Romans. He survived the emperor's decision to separate immigrant children from their parents, sending them hundreds of miles from their families or forcing them into slavery. Later, he was denied citizenship despite his service in the army, as Romans were deeply conflicted over who should enjoy its privileges: they wanted to buttress their global power, yet were insecure about Roman identity; they depended on foreign goods, but scoffed at foreign ways and mocked foreigners with a potent mix of bigotry and... Views: 243
Adventurer Marah Chase might just be ready to settle down—but she can't resist one last epic, globe-trotting quest to rescue a friend and discover a legendary locale.Marah Chase has everything she wanted. Her academic career is back on track, she's moved into a Manhattan apartment, and a dream job is waiting at the American Museum of Natural History. So why can't she seem to stop slipping into her old ways, traveling the world in search of lost relics and buried treasure? Back out in the field, Chase finds the lost Ark of the Covenant, a discovery that could trigger a holy war, as religions and nations argue over ownership of the sacred item. The Ark also brings Chase into conflict with another legendary relic runner, August Nash, a clash the entire underground smuggling community has been waiting for, and not one that will end anytime soon. Upon returning home, Chase is hired by US soda billionaire Lauren Stanford to find the Fountain of Youth. At first,... Views: 243
