For decades, Catherine Aird's crime novels featuring C.D. Sloan have been beloved by fans and lauded by critics for their adroit plotting, playful wit, and literate charm. With Amendment of Life, Aird delivers the lively and engrossing novel that readers have come to rely upon.Detective Chief Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Calleshire CID is used to the occasional oddity in his relatively quiet part of the English countryside. But lately things have taken a strange turn. First, in the center of a yew maze that is the showpiece of the Tudor-era house, Aumerle Court, a body is spotted by Miss Daphne Pedlinge, the elderly chatelaine of the Court. By the time the groundskeeper actually makes it to the center, he, too, spies the body, and it is indeed dead. Meanwhile, a few miles away, a slaughtered rabbit is left on the Bishop's doorstep in nearby Calleford, an omen as portentous as the body in the maze. Now Inspector Sloan, with the somewhat trying personage of... Views: 37
The first death was ruled an accident. But when a second accountant from A.D.E.--a popular relief organization that resettles East African refugees--turns up dead, FBI Special Agent and forensic artist Sydney Fitzpatrick is called in to lend her expertise in an increasingly troubling case. Not only is the charity backed by a powerful U.S. senator, but the investigation reveals that its funds have been siphoned off to bankroll terrorist cells in black list countries, and Sydney fears the consequences.And it may already be too late. Death has crossed the border from Mexico and is now heading toward Washington, D.C. Time is rapidly running out--and unless Sydney and her partner, Zachary Griffin, can get to the root of a monstrous conspiracy, untold thousands will die in a nuclear nightmare and a nation will be reduced to chaos. Views: 37
Old secrets are rising up to haunt the inhabitants of Louisiana's small, rustic St. Germaine Parish, where no one is quite who they seem, and restless spirits are rumored to roam the woods and the antebellum mansion of the town's richest family, the St. Michels. Successful New York City artist Mignon Thibeaux doesn't believe in ghosts, but even she can't resist the rumors that the St. Michel mansion may be haunted, especially since its owner, Luc St. Michel, was the same man whom her mother ran off with 25 years ago before disappearing into thin air. Convinced that there was more to her mother's strange departure, Mignon returns to her hometown of LaValle, Louisiana to investigate. Once there, she doesn't know who she can trust - from the handsome, rugged sheriff who seems to have his own agenda, the guarded Louisiana Supreme Court judge who hides behind a wall of lies, and finally to Eleanor St. Michel, Luc's vindictive wife, who is relentless in her pursuit of the... Views: 37
It's a whole new ride from master of horror and bestselling author R.L. Stine—with a story so fiendish that it can't be contained to just one book! A picture is worth a thousand screams—if it's taken with an evil camera that has a nasty vision of the future. Julie's future doesn't look pretty. And neither does anyone else's after they're caught in her lens! Things start looking up when Julie gets to HorrorLand. That is, until she starts falling down—into the Tunnel of Screams. A giant spider attack really bugs Julie and makes her suspect the park isn't all fun. Views: 37
In the latest Library Lover's Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Better Late Than Never, the library's big fund-raiser leaves director Lindsey Norris booked for trouble . . . Lindsey Norris and her staff are gearing up for the Briar Creek Library's annual Dinner in the Stacks fund-raiser. The night of dinner and dancing is not only a booklover's dream—it's the library's biggest moneymaker of the year. But instead of raising funds, the new library board president is busy raising a stink and making the staff miserable.Although Olive Boyle acts like a storybook villain, Lindsey is determined to work with her and make the event a success. But when Olive publicly threatens the library's newest hire, Paula, Lindsey cracks like an old book spine and throws Olive out of the library.The night of the fund-raiser, Lindsey dreads another altercation with Olive—but instead finds Paula crouched over Olive's dead body. Paula may... Views: 37
Every Saturday Jim, Mickey and Lisa battle in paintball wars held in the city's storm-drain system. The new kid, Carter, wants to join their club, the Sewer Rats. Lisa doesn't want him in the club. She devises risky tests for him and puts him in the path of danger at every opportunity. But the tunnels under the city are dangerous enough on their own, and soon the kids find themselves trapped and terrified as the tunnels fill with water. Views: 37
SUMMARY:
Donna Leon has topped European bestseller lists for more than a decade with a series of mysteries featuring clever Commissario Guido Brunetti. Always ready to bend the rules to uncover the threads of a crime, Brunetti manages to maintain his integrity while maneuvering through a city rife with politics, corruption, and intrigue. In A Noble Radiance a new landowner is summoned urgently to his house not far from Venice when workmen accidentally unearth a macabre grave. The human corpse is badly decomposed, but a ring found nearby proves to be a first clue that reopens an infamous case of kidnapping involving one of Venice's most aristocratic families. Only Commissario Brunetti can unravel the clues and find his way into both the heart of patrician Venice and that of a family grieving for their abducted son. Views: 37
New York, 2026. In the aftermath of a terrorist A-bomb, private investigator Keith Savage searches for a kidnapped artist, the paraplegic daughter of a crime-busting politician, but tracking her down leads him to a place where her fascination with insects collides with his fears. Views: 37
From Publishers Weekly Critics (and publicists) often compare Reichs to Patricia Cornwell, as both are women who write bestselling thrillers featuring a female forensic expert. There's a significant difference between them, though. Reichs brings to her grisly novels a scientific detail and authenticity that Cornwell rarely matchesAa virtue arising from Reich's background as a top forensic anthropologist for the governments of North Carolina and Quebec, a background mirrored by that of her heroine, Tempe Brennan. But CornwellAa journalist before she turned novelistAis a more accomplished writer than Reichs, and her more fluid prose and plotting support a heroine who exudes a vitality that Brennan doesn't. Reichs's strengths and weaknesses are apparent in this third novel (after Death du Jour) featuring narrator Brennan, which finds the crime fighter tangling with outlaw motorcycle gangs in Montreal. The novel opens as Brennan, "sorting badly mangled tissue" in an autopsy room, is interrupted by the arrival of another body: that of a girl, nine, caught by a bullet that one gang, the Heathens, had intended for a rival Viper. The mangled tissue belongs to two Heathens who'd been en route to bomb the Vipers' headquarters: war is raging among bikers in Montreal, and Brennan is soon caught in the battles, not least because her visiting nephew, Kit, is enamored with bikersAincluding some involved in the war. The narrative carries Brennan to assorted bikers' hangouts, and to much forensic digging, all of which Reichs handles with an admirable intensity and veracity. Still, the novel has a stiff, storyboarded feel, with a subplot involving Brennan's cop loverAhas he turned gang member?Aparticularly intrusive. The pacing is lopsided, laborious in front and action-stuffed at the back, and the narrative spreads its message about the malfeasance of outlaw bikers with a heavy hand. Overall, the novel works, but the gears show one time too many. Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh at the Writer's Shop. Major ad/promo; 6-city author tour. Views: 37
It’s only the second day of 1924, but Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, find themselves embroiled in intrigue. It starts with a New Year’s visit from Holmes’s brother Mycroft, who comes bearing a strange package containing the papers of an English spy named Kimball O’Hara—the same Kimball known to the world through Kipling’s famed Kim . Inexplicably, O’Hara withdrew from the “Great Game” of espionage and now he has just as inexplicably disappeared.
When Russell discovers Holmes’s own secret friendship with the spy, she knows the die is cast: she will accompany her husband to India to search for the missing operative. But Russell soon learns that in this faraway and exotic land, it’s often impossible to tell friend from foe—and that some games aren’t played for fun but for the highest stakes of all…life and death. Views: 37
Detective Dave Robicheaux is facing the most painful and dangerous case of his career. A troubled young woman breezes into his hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana. She happens to be the daughter of Robicheaux's onetime best friend – a friend he witnessed gunned down in a bank robbery, a tragedy that forever changed Robicheaux's life. In Pegasus Descending, James Lee Burke again explores psyches as much as evidence, and tries to make sense of human behavior as well as of his characters' crimes. Richly atmospheric, frightening in its sudden violence, and replete with the sort of puzzles only the best crime fiction creates, Burke's latest novel is an unforgettable roller coaster of passion, surprise, and regret. The twists begin when Trish Klein – the only offspring of Robicheaux's Vietnam-era buddy – starts passing marked hundred-dollar bills in local casinos. Is she a good kid gone bad? A victim's child seeking revenge? A promiscuous beauty seducing everyone good within her grasp? And how does her behavior relate to the apparent suicide of another "good" girl, an ace student named Yvonne Darbonne, who apparently participated in a college frat orgy before her death? Can Robicheaux make his peace with the demons that have haunted him since his friend's murder so many years ago? Can he figure out how a local mobster fits into all the schemes and deaths? Can Robicheaux's life be whole again when it has been shattered by so much tragedy? Once again, Burke proves why he is the virtual poet laureate of southern Louisiana, and why his novels, especially those featuring Dave Robicheaux, stand as brilliant literature and entertainment for our time. Views: 37
Sir Josse d'Aquin is summoned to assist the beleaguered King John in the 17th – and final – Hawkenlye mystery. September, 1216. A foreign army has invaded England. The country is divided. Some support the rebel barons and Prince Louis of France; others remain loyal to the king. His rule under threat, King John summons Sir Josse d'Acquin to support him. But can Sir Josse save the king from himself? Meanwhile, Josse's daughter Meggie is summoned to Hawkenlye Abbey to attend a sick patient in a very distressed state. The elderly woman is warning of terrible danger unless she can complete her mission. What she learns from her patient will set Meggie on a perilous journey to retrieve a cursed treasure. But will she be in time to prevent a tragedy? Views: 37
The vampires of Asheville, North Carolina, want to establish their own clan, but since they owe loyalty to the Master Vampire of New Orleans they must work out the terms with him. To come up with an equitable solution, he sends an envoy with the best bodyguard blood money can buy: Jane Yellowrock. But when a group of local campers are attacked by something fanged, Jane goes from escort to investigator. Unless she wants to face a very angry mast vampire, she will have to work overtime to find the killer. It's a good thing she's worth every penny. Views: 37
