It is World War II, and while the RAF struggles to keep the Luftwaffe at bay, Britain faces an even more sinister threat from "the enemy within"—Nazis posing as ordinary citizens.With pressure mounting, the intelligence service appoints two unlikely spies, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. Their mission: to seek out a man and a woman from among the colorful guests at Sans Souci, a seaside hotel. But this assignment is no stroll along the promenade—N and M have just murdered Britain's finest agent and no one at all can be trusted. . . . From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. James Warwick delivers a virtuoso performance in this rendition of Agatha Christie's spy thriller. As WWII spreads across Europe, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, former British Intelligence agents and a married couple, are enlisted to uncover Nazi spies at Sans Souci, a hotel in Leahampton. Taking on assumed identities, Tommy and Tuppence arrive at Sans Souci, where they must search for the German agents—known only as N and M—navigate a hotel full of suspicious guests, preserve their secret identities, and, above all else, defend national security. Warwick's portrayals of Tommy and Tuppence are spot-on, as is his evocation of life in a small English hotel in 1940s England. As the story unfolds and each new character—male, female, English, German, adult and child alike—is introduced, Warwick outdoes himself, producing one unique voice after another in an energetic and fully committed performance. A must for Christie fans and devotees of spy stories and cozy mysteries. A Signet paperback. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.From Library JournalMiddle-aged Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, too old to fight and too young to knit, are dismayed to find out that the British government of World War II has little interest in their detecting and spy-catching abilities. Then, almost incidentally, they are asked to spot a traitor, believed to be living at a rural guesthouse. But the place is full of harmless eccentrics: elderly ladies, retired military men, a hypochondriac and his colorless wife, a young mother, and a German refugee. The Beresfords invent personalities and elaborate traps, identify the imposter, and prevent an invasion. The strengths of this Christie "cozy" are the exuberant charm, intelligence, and enthusiasms of the central characters. Middle-aged they may be, but inside Tommy and Tuppence are still the same young adventurers who chased criminals and spies in post-Great War London. James Warwick does a highly competent, nicely unobtrusive job of reading this title, which is likely to be popular with fans of golden age mysteries. Recommended for moderate to large public libraries. I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 117
Internationally best-selling crime writer Val McDermid is one of the most dependable professionals in the mystery and thriller business, whose acutely suspenseful, seamlessly plotted novels have riveted millions of readers worldwide. In her latest, "The Skeleton Road," she delivers a gripping standalone novel about a cold case that links back to the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. In the center of historic Edinburgh, builders are preparing to convert a disused Victorian Gothic building into luxury flats. They are understandably surprised to find skeletal remains hidden in a high pinnacle that hasn't been touched by maintenance for years. But who do the bones belong to, and how did they get there? Could the eccentric British pastime of free climbing the outside of buildings play a role? Enter cold case detective Karen Pirie, who gets to work trying to establish the corpse's identity. And when it turns out the bones may be from as far away as former Yugoslavia, Karen will need to dig deeper than she ever imagined into the tragic history of the Balkans: to war crimes and their consequences, and ultimately to the notion of what justice is and who serves it. "The Skeleton Road" is an edge-of-your-seat, unforgettable read from one of our finest crime writers."Val McDermid . . . has the ruthless psychological scalpel that forms part of the equipment of all good novelists, whatever their genre. And, fortunately for us, she knows just how to use it."--The Guardian (UK) on "The Retribution" Views: 117
Product DescriptionAdam Maxwell's first collection of short stories is inventive, funny, dark, and hugely entertaining. The twenty stories included here range from a bizarre quest to find a dead rockstar's limb (Jim Morrison's Leg) to a memorable warning about the hidden dangers of building sites (the acclaimed Shooting Jelly With A Shotgun). Effortlessly fusing pop culture, gunplay, and simians, Dial M For Monkey contains a vibrant mixture of short stories - and short-short stories - most never published before. This unmissable collection represents another shot in the arm for the resurgent form of the short story. As featured in Tonto Short Stories and Dave Eggers' McSweeney's. About the AuthorAdam Maxwell was born in 1976 and has written for a plethora of publications, including Dave Eggers' McSweeney's, and Tonto Short Stories. According to his wife, he has an 'unhealthy obsession' with Bob Dylan and the Beatles, and manages to be 'increasingly worrying' in a number of other areas. He has a Masters Degree in Crea-tive Writing from Northumbria University, and lives in the wilds of Northumberland. This is his first book. He has a website at www.adammaxwell.com. Views: 116
Instantly reminiscent of the work of Osamu Dazai and Patricia Highsmith, Fuminori Nakamura's latest novel is a dark and twisting house of mirrors that philosophically explores the violence of aesthetics and the horrors of identity.A young writer arrives at a prison to interview a convict. The writer has been commissioned to write a full account of the case, from its bizarre and grisly details to the nature of the man behind the crime. The suspect, a world-renowned photographer named Kiharazaka, has a deeply unsettling portfolio--lurking beneath the surface of each photograph is an acutely obsessive fascination with his subject.He stands accused of murdering two women--both burned alive--and will likely face the death penalty. But something isn't quite right, and as the young writer probes further, his doubts about this man as a killer intensify. He soon discovers the desperate, twisted nature of all who are connected to the case, struggling to... Views: 116
SUMMARY: Just when everything is going beautifully for archaeologist Emma Fielding -- a position at a respected university, a beautiful home in New England, and the warm love of a devoted husband -- her world starts to crumble. What begins as a series of seemingly innocent gestures -- the anonymous delivery of gifts and flowers to Emma's family and friends -- soon progresses to secret, sadistic acts designed to destroy her reputation, her character, and her career. Someone has instituted a brilliantly insidious campaign of personal terror against Emma Fielding, and she is certain she knows who it is: a cunning and dangerous enemy whom everyone but she believes is dead. But with no proof, no clues, and no allies, Emma will have to fight alone in the dark to rescue a life being rapidly reduced to ashes . . . if she can survive long enough to do so. Views: 115
HOTEL KEROBOKAN is the shocking inside
story of the most brutal, corrupt & truly bizzare jail in the
world - situated right in the heart of the holiday mecca, Bali. The
jail's graying walls touch paradise. Step outside and it's sun-kissed
beaches, five star restaurants & luxury hotels. Step inside - and
it's hell on earth. This book, written by an Australian journalist with
unprecedented access to inside, paints a graphic picture of life in the
jail and is not for the faint-hearted. It flirts with dark comedy, but
is thick with tragic and shocking stories of tourists and international
drug traffickers checked in to Hotel K.
It's a place that's been home to Gordon Ramsay’s drug addict
brother, Ronnie Ramsay, Bali King Cok Pemecutan, Australian beauty
school student Schapelle Corby, the Bali Nine, English ecstasy dealer
Steve Turner as well as unlucky tourists and surfers from across the
globe.
JOURNALIST Kathryn Bonella spent a year in Bali,
entering the jail every day for months to co-write Schapelle Corby's
bestselling 2006 autobiography NO MORE TOMORROWS. Now after hundreds of
interviews and two more years of investigation she's telling the
incredible story of the jail itself. Backed up by hundreds of interviews
with prisoners past and present, as well as jail guards, the truth
about HOTEL K explodes off every page. Views: 115
