Middle school retrieval specialist Jeremy Wilderson must team up with preteen private detective Becca Mills once again to solve his most mind-boggling case yet in this action-packed MAX novel.Ahh, summer vacation! Jeremy Wilderson, Scottsville Middle School's first (and only) retrieval specialist, is enjoying a slower-than-usual season of retrieving (NOT stealing) lost objects in order to help the under thirteen population of Scottsville. But crime doesn't take a vacation! And when sabotage strikes Scottsville's event of the year—the Summer Art Show—threatening to ruin the burgeoning painting career of Jeremy's best friend, Case, it's up to Jeremy to figure out what's going on. Of course, his archrival Becca Mills, who just happens to think Jeremy, Case, and their friend Hack are involved in the crime, is also looking into it. Jeremy has only a few precious hours to stop the sabotage before more contest entries—and kids' dreams—are... Views: 10
Gourmet popcorn entrepreneur Rebecca Anderson and her poodle, Sprocket, are back on the case, in the second Popcorn Shop Mystery from the author of Kernel of Truth.Despite Rebecca Anderson's best efforts to distance herself from her ex-husband, the guy keeps popping up. When Antoine offers to feature her breakfast bars and popcorn fudge on his popular cooking show, she suspects he's once again trying to butter her up—but the TV exposure for her gourmet popcorn shop, POPS, is too good to turn down. Things take a shocking turn when the crew comes to Grand Lake to film in her shop, and Rebecca discovers Antoine's assistant electrocuted in a hotel bathtub. Now the police want Antoine to come clean. Her ex may be a pain, but he's no killer. So Rebecca decides to bag the real culprit. If she isn't careful, however, she may be the next one getting burned.INCLUDES POPCORN RELATED RECIPES! Views: 10
Uncle Abner, the most famous literary character created by Melville Davisson Post, is a righteous amateur detective, a keen observer of human actions with profound knowledge and love for Bible. On his journeys around the backwoods of West Virginia, long before a proper police system is in place, he is confronted by murders and mysteries that cannot be ignored. He helps to solve them with his impressive intuition and deductive skills.Abner's adventures are populated with peculiar characters and intriguing adventures set in the rough but fascinating land 'where men concealed their feelings as one conceals the practice of a crime; and one would have stolen his neighbor's goods before he would have intruded upon the secrecy of his emotions.'This collection of eighteen stories, first published in 1918, with the pivotal character of justice-dispensing Uncle Abner connecting them all, is often considered among the most important American detective and crime fiction. Views: 10
Ten-year-old Chloe Sutton arrives on Prince Edward Island to live with her Aunt Laverne (Larry) after the loss of her parents. Her first night in her new home, Chloe is tormented by the loss of her mother and father and hides in the dark to speak to them. When she does, she unknowingly invites the attention of a ghostly boy who inhabits the oldest part of the farmstead. Terrified but intrigued, Chloe decides to uncover his history, setting her off on a set of adventures. When she does finally find the ghost boy's secret, she soon realizes they are similarly tormented. Patti Larsen is an award-winning middle grade and young adult author with a passion for the paranormal. Run, the first book in her YA series, The Hunted, is the recipient of the 2012 PEI Book Awards for Fiction. She is a full time writer and a part time teacher of her Get Your Book Done program. Patti lives on the East Coast of Canada with her husband and four cats. Canadian author. Views: 10
Dan Balor, a high powered Washington attorney, buys an apartment building in the heart of the city, hoping to create low income housing for good families. Instead he finds the building occupied by squatters: drug dealers, winos, and hookers intent on staying in place. Police and private investigators are unable to empty the building for use by paying residents. No one seems willing or able to take on this challenge until Balor meets Hannibal Jones. Hannibal soon finds himself up against a local crime boss and his powerful mob connected father. The conflict spreads until Hannibal realizes that his stand against the mob could explode into a full-fledged riot unless he can somehow end it all, without surrendering the building and the neighborhood to the criminals. Views: 10
In the first ever short story by Retired Delta Force officer Brad Taylor, the stakes couldn't be higher as operator Pike Logan goes after the first Taskforce target leading a team he can't fully trust. Commissioned at the highest level of the U.S. government, and designed to operate outside the bounds of U.S. law, a new counter-terrorist unit known as the Taskforce has just been formed, but not fully tested. Until now. Pike Logan has been given a team of operators drawn from the CIA's National Clandestine Service and the military's Special Operations Forces without any say in selecting the men on which he must depend. While executing a full mission profile exercise on U.S. soil, a target of opportunity appears before the Taskforce is deemed mission capable. Forced to execute, Pike and his team are sent to Yemen to track their first real target. The future of the Taskforce depends on their success, but when Pike is challenged by one of his own, their clear-cut mission teeters on the brink of disaster. The price of failure will reverberate much deeper than the loss of the target — straight into the presidency itself. Propulsive, compelling, and told with unparalleled realism, *The Callsign* brings readers new insight into the origins of the Taskforce as they execute the first Omega operation in a relentless and action-packed short story. Views: 10
The Delphi Chronicle is a serial trilogy - a story that unfolds over three installments, with each continuing in the next episode, usually with a cliffhanger ending, on all but the last installment. This first book, The Manuscript, chronicles the saga of NY private eye Michael Derrigan, as he unwittingly comes into possession of a manuscript that will change the world order if its secrets are aired. Clandestine factions of the U.S. government will do anything to keep the story buried, & a trail of butchery follows Derrigan as he races for his life in a chase that spans from New York, to Mexico, to Havana. An epic roller-coaster ride of a thriller, The Delphi Chronicle's unflinching & often disturbing twists & turns question the nature of reality & of the integrity of our governments in a post-modern world of lies, deceit and betrayal. +++Q & A with bestselling author Russell Blake.Q: The Delphi Chronicle posits a troubling & plausible conspiracy. Where did you get the idea?Russell Blake: The idea stemmed from the title. I was originally going to call it The Pegasus File, & I'd conceptualized a cool cover, so I googled it to confirm there weren't any other books with that name. The original conspiracy was much tamer than what I wound up with after that search. I had the idea of a literary agent getting a manuscript detailing a shocking scheme, but I hadn't defined what it was, exactly. From that search came this conspiracy, & I have to admit I considered toning it down, because it scared even me. So readers? This is fiction, OK? And U.S. government? No need to send a wet team after me. We all understand it's fictional. As in, an invention, not real. That's my official position. Readers can decide how plausible the invention is for themselves. Some will hate it, as it portrays the U.S. government in a negative light.Q: Why write it as a trilogy?RB: It would have been a long single volume if I'd tried to squeeze it all into one book. Given the success I saw with the Zero Sum trilogy, I wanted to do another one, & this was just naturally written in three volumes, although I think most will get the first one, & then buy the specially-priced bundle of Books 2 & 3 if they're interested in following the story to its thrilling conclusion (wink wink).Q: How do your novels compare to the work of your peers?RB: I think they're faster paced than most. I try to catapult readers through a series of twists & turns at such aggressive velocity they're left gasping by the end. And I dislike books where I can see the ending coming a third of the way through. Just hate that. I try to write racing, intelligent thrillers that don't pander & aren't formulaic. All have gotten raves, so I'm fooling at least some of the people most of the time...Q: Part of Delphi unfolds in Mexico. Any particular reason?RB: I live in Mexico. Have for almost a decade. Modern Mexico is very different than portrayed by the U.S. media. Many parts are indistinguishable from cities in the U.S. Strip malls, high rises, melting-pot racial integration, etc. It's not burros & cactus & sombreros. One of the things I find fascinating is how different it is than my expectations when I moved here, & I try to impart that. I don't see many novels that are set in modern Mexico, & most I've read are caricatures of the truth. Mission bells, white-garbed peasants, mariachis, stereotypes. I try to imbue my fiction with reality, not some Hollywood portrayal of the country based on a snapshot from the 1950s. I think readers will find that distinction interesting, as do I.Q: You're prolific. What's your secret?RB: All I do is write. And I have a lot of stories floating in my head. I have been spending a lot of time getting them out onto paper (or more accurately, pixels). I think readers would do well to read Night of the Assassin and King of Swords for a synthesized version of my style. But there will be plenty more to come.Review"A sadistically good writer." - The Kindle Book Review*"Russell Blake writes with a brisk intensity and pulse-pounding power. Jump in and hang on for a nonstop thrill ride." - Scott Nicholson, Liquid Fear"Blake has never failed to deliver an intelligent, exquisitely paced thriller, packed with unforgettable characters, devious intrigue and immersive detail. He has emerged as the most consistently satisfying writer on the thriller scene."* - Steven Konkoly, bestselling author of Black Flagged, Black Flagged Redux and The Jakarta PandemicAbout the AuthorRussell Blake was named one of the most popular indie novelists of 2012 and is the bestselling author of seventeen novels, including the thrillers Fatal Exchange, The Geronimo Breach, Zero Sum, King of Swords, Night of the Assassin, Revenge of the Assassin, Return of the Assassin, The Delphi Chronicle trilogy, The Voynich Cypher, Silver Justice, JET, JET II - Betrayal and JET III - Vengeance. Non-fiction includes the international bestseller An Angel With Fur (animal biography) and How To Sell A Gazillion eBooks In No Time (even if drunk, high or incarcerated), a parody of all things writing-related. Blake lives in Mexico and enjoys his dogs, fishing, boating, tequila and writing, while battling world domination by clowns. Views: 10
