Prostitution has been legal in Rhode Island for more than a decade; Liam Mulligan, an old-school investigative reporter at dying Providence newspaper, suspects the governor has been taking payoffs to keep it that way. But this isn't the only story making headlines...a child's severed arm is discovered in a pile of garbage at a pig farm. Then the body of an internet pornographer is found sprawled on the rocks at the base of Newport's famous Cliff Walk. At first, the killings seem random, but as Mulligan keeps digging into the state's thriving sex business, strange connections emerge. Promised free sex with hookers if he minds his own business—and a beating if he doesn't—Mulligan enlists Thanks-Dad, the newspaper publisher's son, and Attila the Nun, the state's colorful Attorney General, in his quest for the truth. What Mulligan learns will lead him to question his beliefs about sexual morality, shake his tenuous religious faith, and leave him... Views: 35
An unstoppable combination: Alexander McCall Smith and Jane Austen, as Sandy modernizes the story of Emma Woodhouse. Emma Woodhouse's widowed father is an anxious man, obsessed with nutrition and the latest vitamins. He lives the life of a country gentleman in contemporary England, protectively raising his young daughters, Isabella and Emma. While Isabella grows into a young woman, marries a society photographer for Vogue at the age of 19 and gets down to the business of reproducing herself, Emma pursues a degree in interior design at university in Bath, and then returns to set up shop in her home village. With her educated eye for the coordination of pattern and colour, Emma thinks she can now judge what person would best be paired with another, and sets about matchmaking her young friend, Harriet, with various possible suitors. Little does she know she is not the only person encouraging romantic pairings in the village. As Emma's cupid-like curiosity about her neighbours, both young and old, moves her to uncover their deeper motives, she is forced to confront a few surprising truths about her own.About the AuthorALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, the 44 Scotland Street series and the Corduroy Mansions series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served with many national and international organizations concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and was a law professor at the University of Botswana. The author lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Views: 35
New Zealand, Maoris, murder… Who is better qualified to write about them than Ngaio Marsh? Views: 35
With the boys of baseball out on strike, Kate Henry finds herself with time on her hands. Passing on the chance to sit in on contract negotiations in New York, Kate instead turns her attention to issues closer to home—helping her boyfriend, Andy Munro, recover from a shooting, and finding Maggie, a local homeless person now gone missing under mysterious circumstances.When Maggie's long-lost family suddenly turns up trying to find her, Kate questions their motives . . . and their possible involvement with the murder of a man who turns out to be Maggie's husband.Set in 1990's Toronto, Striking Out is the fourth title in the Kate Henry mystery series. Views: 35
Ex-CIA master assassin Court Gentry has always prided himself on his ability to disappear at will, to fly below the radar and exist in the shadows—to survive as the near-mythical Gray Man. But when he takes revenge upon a former employer who betrayed him, he exposes himself to something he’s never had to face before. A killer who is just like him. Code-named Dead Eye, Russell Whitlock is a graduate of the same ultra-secret Autonomous Asset Program that trained and once controlled Gentry. But now, Whitlock is a free agent who has been directed to terminate his fellow student of death. He knows how his target thinks, how he moves, and how he kills. And he knows the best way to do the job is to make Gentry run for his life—right up until the moment Dead Eye finally ends it... Views: 35
The Sisterhood: a group of women from all walks of life bound by friendship and a quest for justice. Armed with vast resources, top-notch expertise, and a loyal network of allies around the globe, the Sisterhood will not rest until every wrong is made right. Through all their missions and adventures, the tightknit group of friends who make up the Sisterhood have learned one vital lesson: everybody has a weak spot. In the case of Yoko Wong's dear friend Garland Lee, the multimillion-selling performer known as America's beloved songbird, that weak spot was trusting her lawyer, Arthur Forrester. For years, he's taken advantage of her faith in him to amass a secret fortune. And now, in the deepest betrayal yet, he's dragged her into a lawsuit that could cost her everything. The Sisterhood know they can't let that happen. Forrester has some of the country's top judges in his pocket, and a list of influential and ruthless... Views: 35
The 22nd novel in the internationally and New York Times bestselling Inspector Montalbano mystery series On a gloomy morning in Vigàta, a call from Fazio rouses Inspector Montalbano from a nightmare. A man called Giugiù Nicotra has been found dead in the skeletal workings of a construction site—a place now entombed by a sea of mud from recent days of rain and floods. Shot in the back, it appears he had fled into a water supply system tunnel. The investigation gets off to a slow start, but all the evidence points to the world of construction and public contracts, a world just as slimy and impenetrable as mud. As he wades through a world in which construction firms and public officials thrive, Montalbano is obsessed by one thought: that by going to die in the tunnel, Nicotra had been trying to communicate something. "The novels of Andrea Camilleri breathe out the sense of place, the sense of humor, and the sense of despair that... Views: 35
Lawrence Kingston is asked to search for a botanist friend who has gone missing. With nothing but a scrap of paper with a bewildering cryptic message, he begins to investigate. He discovers that his friend was experimenting with aquatic plants and has stumbled on a horticultural breakthrough with staggering implications, one that could ultimately generate billions of dollars in revenue: a unique and giant form of Amazonian water lily. Convinced that influential people are involved in the disappearance, he pursues more leads, but circumstances beyond his control plunge him deeper into jeopardy and a corporate world of ruthless, greedy men who are not to be stopped. Kingston presses on, knowing that his missing friend's life--and his own--both hang by a very slender thread. As with the highly acclaimed The Lost Gardens, Eglin brings his botanical and literary skill to this new mystery.From Publishers WeeklyEglin's engaging third horticultural cozy (after 2006's Lost Gardens) pits retired London botanist Lawrence Kingston against rapacious, lawless foes when his longtime friend and colleague, Stewart Halliday, goes missing. Drawing on his cruciverbalist skills, Kingston interprets a coded message in his friend's date book that leads to another cryptogram. Clues indicate that Halliday discovered how to desalinate seawater with a unique crossbred water lily, a scientific breakthrough with potentially far-reaching benefits—and profitability. Kingston believes Halliday has been kidnapped because of the salt-sucking lilies, and even when Kingston is nearly shot down on a helicopter flight, he remains dogged in pursuit of his missing friend. Fans of the brave and erudite Kingston will savor his latest breakneck botanical adventure. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistIn this third in the series, after The Blue Rose 2004) and The Lost Gardens (2006), retired botany professor Lawrence Kingston of London will not be deterred from searching for missing friend and former colleague Stewart Halliday, despite Kingston's being shot down in a helicopter, knocked on the head, and warned explicitly to desist. Halliday's disappearance, as Kingston rightly suspects, is linked to his secret research to crossbreed a giant water lily that can remove salt from water, a scientific breakthrough with huge financial potential. Descriptions of notable English gardens and information about desalination processes add interest to this mystery, in which--in the cozy tradition--violence is limited, and murders occur offstage. Series fans will be intrigued by the appearance of a mysterious woman, somehow involved in the wrongdoing, who adds a the possibility of romance for widower Kingston. Overlook the occasional dangling participle, and enjoy seeing justice prevail in the English manner. Michele LeberCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 35
SUMMARY:
In this riveting Henning Mankell thriller, a disillusioned Inspector Kurt Wallander finds himself in a deep personal and professional crisis after killing a man in the line of duty. After almost a year of sick leave, he hits rock bottom and resolves to quit the police force for good. Against his better judgment Wallander stays on the force when unforeseen circumstances compel him to investigate the murder of a friend. While working closely with Ann-Britt Hoglund, the department’s first female detective, he stumbles on a horrific world where human body parts are traded like stock, and just as he comes close to uncovering the truth, the same shadowy threats responsible for the murders close in on Wallander himself. Views: 35
