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Nineteenth-century New Orleans is a blazing hotbed of scorching politics and personal vendettas. And it's into this fire that Benjamin January falls when he is hired to follow Oliver Weems, a bank official who has absconded with $100,000 in gold and securities. But it's more than just a job for January. The missing money is vital to the survival of the school for freed slaves that he and his wife Rose have founded. Following the suspected embezzler--and the money--onto the steamboat Silver Moon, January, Rose, and their friend Hannibal Sefton are sworn to secrecy about the crime until they can find the trunks containing the stolen loot. And then the unexpected happens: Weems is found murdered and suddenly the job of finding the pirated stash grows not only more difficult--but more deadly. There is no shortage of suspects--from the sinister slave-dealer to the bullying steamship pilot to the suspiciously innocent "lady" with connections to every river pirate in the riotous port of Natchez-Under-the-Hill--who all seem to have something to hide. Now, with time running out, January seeks clues wherever he can find them--and allies among whoever can help. Working in tandem with a young planter named Jefferson Davies, he must uncover the dark web of corruption, betrayal, and greed that has already cost one man his life...and, if he can't catch a brutal, remorseless killer, will soon cost January and his friends theirs.From the Hardcover edition.From Publishers WeeklyHambly's brilliantly crafted eighth historical (after 2003's Days of the Dead) brings the antebellum South so alive you could swear the author traveled back in time to observe her settings firsthand. One day a week the slaves of New Orleans gather at Circus Square (aka Congo Square): "Those who had garden plots sold their surplus produce: tomatoes and corn… and peaches whose scent turned the thick hot air around them to molten gold." Series hero Benjamin January, a former slave, and his gracious wife Rose own a fine home in which they've begun a school to educate young girls of color. But when the president of the bank where all the Januarys' money has been deposited comes to them and confides that a bank employee has cleaned out the coffers, the pair have only one choice: follow the thief and recover the money before a substantial payment is due on their mortgage. Enlisting the aid of their cultured and charming white ne'er-do-well friend, Hannibal Sefton, the two pose as Hannibal's slaves/servants and board a steamboat heading up the Mississippi River. On the boat, they find themselves amid slave runners, abolitionists and a host of interesting, unsavory and downright terrifying individuals. So when their quarry is transformed into a corpse, it's no wonder the trio have no idea who might be trusted. This riveting novel of suspense is sure to win Hambly many new fans. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistThe latest entry in the deservedly popular Benjamin January series finds the amateur sleuth investigating a couple of mysteries. The bank that holds all his money has suddenly and suspiciously collapsed, and someone has apparently put a curse on a former student in the small school operated by January's wife, Rose. Just goes to show: New Orleans, circa 1836, is a wild and dangerous place. The January novels--this is the eighth since 1997--are solid mysteries, but most readers are not tuning in for the plots. Perhaps because she started out writing sf and fantasy novels (and still keeps her hand in the genre), the author has a sure grasp of the art of writing historical fiction, and the novels in this series are clever mixtures of scholarship and imagination. Where many writers of historical mysteries get bogged down in exposition, or in cataloging details that most readers are not interested in, Hambly keeps things moving, always focused on her characters and her story, and not on showing off the quantity of research she's done. Keep 'em coming! David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 454
Reading Order: 1. Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue 2. Molly Fyde and the Land of Light 3. Molly Fyde and the Blood of Billions 4. Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace In the highly anticipated conclusion to the Bern Saga, Molly and her friends are reunited while two wars erupt and collide. An entire universe hangs on the actions of Parsona's crew, and not all of them will survive. Views: 454
There he was in his sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic, all alone and loving it. Well, there was a US Navy carrier group on his southern horizon, but he was US Navy himself, so he didn't mind. Then came the UFOs, hurtling in from the Outer Black to overfly the carriers at Mach 17. Their impossible aeronautics were bad enough - but then they started shooting at each other. And at the Navy. With nukes. Little ones at first, but winding up with a 500 megatonner at 90 miles that fried every piece of electronics within sight. Richard Ashton thought he was just a ringside observer to these now over-the-horizon events. Until the crippled alien lifeboat came drifting down and homed in on his sailboat; suddenly he had his hands full of an unconscious, critially wounded alien warrior - who just happened to be a gorgeous female, too. And that was when it began to get really interesting... Views: 454
When good-girl Maddie switches places with her famous bad-girl twin Jackie, she has some pretty high stilettos to fill.
Despite the danger of tabloid drama if their identity swap is discovered, Maddie has to save her sister's butt. When Jackie’s ex-boyfriend shows up with a rekindled spark for “Jackie,” his deep gray eyes and sweet kisses make Maddie's heart thumpety thump. But dating the guy who dumped her sister is a no-no. Too bad Dallas isn’t used to girls saying no. What will happen when he discovers Maddie’s deception? Views: 454
"Space opera the way it ought to be . . . Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams."—George R. R. MartinFollowing The Accidental War, the second book of a brand-new series set in the Praxis—an epic mix of space opera and military science fiction, from a grand master of science fiction, Walter Jon Williams.The Praxis, the empire of now extinct Shaa, has again fallen into civil war, with desperate and outnumbered humans battling several alien species for survival. Leading the human forces are star-crossed lovers Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula, who must find a way to overcome their own thorny personal history to defeat the aliens and assure humanity's survival.But even if the human fleet is victorious, the divisions fracturing the empire may be too wide to repair, as battles between politicians, the military, and fanatics who want to kill every... Views: 454
"Clumsilla's Flight Through Time" and "Taming of the Tokhashi" are two stories whisking children from their everyday lives to lands of unlikely dangers and delights.Clumsilla time travels with the help of Zigana, a celestial gipsy. In "Taming of the Tokhashi", Topsy and Turvy see the demise of a monster after adventures with exotic creatures and terrifying gods."Clumsilla's Flight Through Time" and "Taming of the Tokhashi" are two stories whisking children from their everyday lives to lands of compelling dangers and delights.Clumsilla meets Zigana, the celestial gipsy, who enables her to fly on a worn hearthrug (not a magic carpet), to the past inhabited by bad tempered giants, princesses, a witch and a dragon unable to breathe fire and then to a time of rocket science and menacing beings fashioned from flames.In "Taming of the Tokhashi", Topsy and Turvy emerge from the pot of Zazhak - a devilish being - and set out to seek the Tokashi - a fellow fiend. En route they encounter a magical phoenix, a prince and princess, a lost Indian elephant and a selection of unruly nature gods. But Viana, the kindly essence of the earth, helps them through. Views: 453
In New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz's ingenious fourth literary whodunit following The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, and A Line to Kill, Horowitz becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation—and only one man can prove his innocence: his newly estranged partner in solving crime, Detective Hawthorne."I'm sorry but the answer's no." Reluctant author, Anthony Horowitz, has had enough. He tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne that after three books he's splitting and their deal is over.The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.His new play, a thriller called Mindgame, is about to open at the Vaudeville Theater in London's West End. Not surprisingly, Hawthorne declines a ticket to the opening night.The play is panned by the critics. In particular, Sunday Times critic Margaret Throsby gives it a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next day, Throsby is stabbed in the... Views: 453
I ducked into a niche between a cabin and the pilot house and hiked my skirt up enough to reach down into my garter holster. I've heard it said that God made all men, but Samuel Colt made all men equal. We'd see what Mr. Colt could do for a woman. Jack Gabert went to India to serve his Queen. He returned to London a violently changed man, infected with an unnatural sickness that altered his body and warped his mind. Eileen Callaghan left an Irish convent with a revolver and a secret. She knows everything and nothing about Jack's curse, but she cannot rest until he's caught. His soul cannot be saved. It can only be returned to God. In the years following the American Civil War, the nun and unnatural creature stalk one another across the United States. Their dangerous game of cat and mouse leads them along great rivers, across dusty plains, and into the no man's land of the unmarked western territories. Here are three tales of the hunt. Reader, take this volume and follow these tormented souls. Learn what you can from their struggle's against each other, against God, and against themselves. Views: 453
Sunset Maloney is about to find big trouble in the Big Sky country of Montana. Like Alan Ladd as Shane, he’s riding into the middle of a ruthless land grab, and his fight for what’s right takes an unexpected turn . . . in the face of a young, attractive woman.
Slim Trotwood is a cruel, greedy tinhorn—a gambler with little money and less skill—who’s determined to take possession of all the land in Puma Pass, whether by fraud or by force. And Sunset’s the only man willing to take him on. Faster than greased lightning with his six-gun, nothing can stop him from taking Trotwood down . . . until he meets Tinhorn’s Daughter.
Just arrived from Boston, she’s as naïve as she is beautiful, and Sunset falls hard for her. But if he can’t make her see what kind of man her father really is, he may fall even harder. Because if he loses this fight, Sunset may never see the sunrise again.
Hailing from the western states of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Montana, Hubbard grew up surrounded by grizzled frontiersmen and leather-tough cowboys. When he chose to write stories of the Old West, Hubbard didn’t have to go far to do his research, drawing on his own memories of a youth steeped in the life and legends of the American frontier.
Also includes the Western adventure When Gilhooly Was in Flower, in which there’s romance on the range, as an unlikely cowpuncher mixes lassos with literature to find love in Gunpowder Gulch.
Follow a trail of greed, gun smoke, and romance as the audio version of Tinhorn’s Daughter takes you to the wild heart of the Wild West. Views: 453
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series comes a hilarious and high-octane adult novel about a vodka-drinking, Flashdance-loving dragon who lives an isolated life in the bayous of Louisiana—and the raucous adventures that ensue when he crosses paths with a fifteen-year-old troublemaker on the run from a crooked sheriff.In the days of yore, he flew the skies and scorched angry mobs—now he hides from swamp tour boats and rises only with the greatest reluctance from his Laz-Z-Boy recliner. Laying low in the bayou, this once-magnificent fire breather has been reduced to lighting Marlboros with nose sparks, swilling Absolut in a Flashdance T-shirt, and binging Netflix in a fishing shack. For centuries, he struck fear in hearts far and wide as Wyvern, Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie—now he goes by Vern.... Views: 453
At the Citadel of the Almighty, the course of history is set. Wars have started there, and will again.A washerwoman, unbeliever in the holiest place in the world. A soldier, rising through the ranks of the Church Guard. A troubadour, free spirit in a world of dogma. One of these is the voice that will write a new chapter in history.Introduction to the series.The Citadel of the Almighty is, for all intents and purposes, the center of the world. Not only does it lie in the borderlands between the realms of the Skanda and the Arganian people, an oasis in an unhospitable river basin, it is also the holiest of holies, the sacred home of the United Church. Once already, war started here. If the world is to change again, here is where that change will begin.A washerwoman, unbeliever in the holiest place in the world. A soldier, rising through the ranks of the Church Guard. A troubadour, free spirit in a world of dogma. One of these is the voice that will write a new chapter in history.Introduction to the series. Views: 453
“Morgan Rice's imagination is limitless. In another series that promises to be as entertaining as the previous ones, A THRONE OF SISTERS presents us with the tale of two sisters (Sophia and Kate), orphans, fighting to survive in a cruel and demanding world of an orphanage. An instant success. I can hardly wait to put my hands on the second and third books!”
--Books and Movie Reviews (Roberto Mattos)
From #1 Bestseller Morgan Rice comes an unforgettable new fantasy series.
In A SONG FOR ORPHANS (A Throne for Sisters—Book Three), Sophia, 17, journeys in search of her parents. Her quest takes her to foreign and strange lands—and to a shocking secret she could never imagine.
Kate, 15, is summoned by the witch, as her time has come to repay the favor. But Kate is changing, coming of age, become ever more powerful—and what will become of Kate if she makes a deal with darkness?
Sebastian, a romantic, follows his heart, throwing it all away to reject his family and find Sophia. But Lady D’Angelica is still bent on killing her—and may have other plans.
A SONG FOR ORPHANS (A Throne for Sisters—Book Three) is the third book in a dazzling new fantasy series rife with love, heartbreak, tragedy, action, adventure, magic, swords, sorcery, dragons, fate and heart-pounding suspense. A page turner, it is filled with characters that will make you fall in love, and a world you will never forget.
Book #4 in the series will be released soon.
“[A THRONE FOR SISTERS is a] powerful opener to a series [that] will produce a combination of feisty protagonists and challenging circumstances to thoroughly involve not just young adults, but adult fantasy fans who seek epic stories fueled by powerful friendships and adversaries.”
--Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan) Views: 453
Imagine a world without hunger. With clothing and shelter for everyone. A world that is never too warm or too cold. A world where there are no decisions to be made, because everything is decided upon for the inhabitants.A utopia? Or a prison? Because paradise has a price.The story of one man: the last who can read the secret language of the machine that created the City - the last man who can change it. Views: 453
