- Table View
- List View
Death at the Movies
by Tom And GenelliIt's a Wonderful Life (1946), Resurrection (1980), Poltergeist (1982), Beetlejuice (1988), Ghost (1990), Groundhog Day (1993), The Sixth Sense (1999) - these are only a few of the influential movies in recent decades dealing with the afterlife. But beyond entertainment, do they mean anything? The authors of this wise and well-informed guide believe so. They explore how popular motion pictures, from Outward Bound (1930) to Hereafter, play a perhaps unconscious role in guiding humanity toward its evolutionary comprehension of the meaning and purpose of death. They draw on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Buddhism, and depth psychology to review some of the most spiritually powerful films ever made. Death is, say the authors, at once the most immediate locked door and the ultimate frontier, a staggering paradox that invites us to search for deeper understanding based upon a level of consciousness beyond thought. After reading this book, you'll never view Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz the same way again.
Death at the Old Asylum (Inspector Lucas Rocco)
by Adrian MagsonIn this mystery set in 1960s France, a rural police inspector investigates three dead Moroccans, two assaulted cops, and one enigmatic lawyer. Picardie, 1964. On a deserted country road, three Moroccan nationals are shot dead with precision, a cold-blooded execution, one bullet each. To Inspector Lucas Rocco, it&’s a mystery. Why them and why here? A short time later, he happens upon two police officers who have been assaulted by an enraged motorist, one of them seriously. The unapologetic assailant, found to have an unregistered gun in his possession, claims to be the secretary of a high-profile and influential Parisian lawyer, Guy De Lancourt. The two cases seemingly have nothing in common. But on closer examination Rocco feels something isn&’t quite right. Just what lies beneath De Lancourt&’s carefully-cultivated public persona? And what secrets are hidden at Les Cyprès, the heavily-guarded former mental asylum that De Lancourt has made his home? Perfect for fans of Martin Walker, Donna Leon, and Georges Simenon.
Death at the Seaside: A Kate Shackleton Mystery
by Frances BrodyFrances Brody returns with an intricate, absorbing plot while capturing the atmosphere and language of 1920s England in the eighth book of her cozy mystery series.Nothing ever happens in August, and tenacious sleuth Kate Shackleton deserves a break.Heading off for a long-overdue holiday to Whitby, she visits her school friend Alma who works as a fortune teller there. Kate had been looking forward to a relaxing seaside sojourn, but upon arrival discovers that Alma's daughter Felicity has disappeared, leaving her mother a note and the pawn ticket for their only asset: a watch-guard.What makes this more intriguing is the jeweler who advanced Felicity the thirty shillings is Jack Phillips, Alma's current gentleman friend.Kate can't help but become involved, and goes to the jeweller's shop to get some answers. When she makes a horrifying discovery in the back room, it becomes clear that her services are needed. Met by a wall of silence by town officials, keen to maintain Whitby's idyllic façade, it's up to Kate - ably assisted by Jim Sykes and Mrs Sugden - to discover the truth behind Felicity's disappearance.And they say nothing happens in August...
Death at the Wedding Feast (The John Rawlings Mysteries #14)
by Deryn LakeA mismatched marriage ends in tragedy, and a mystery for Apothecary John Rawlings, in this historical set in eighteenth century England. February, 1768. Apothecary John Rawlings has travelled to Devon to be by the side of his mistress, Marchesa Elizabeth di Lorenzi, who is due to give birth to their child. Leaving his shop—and his new carbonated water business—in good hands, John arrives at Sidmouth House to a surprise. While Elizabeth is recuperating, John learns that Lady Sidmouth’s cousin, Miranda, is to marry the elderly Earl of St. Austell, who is more than fifty years her senior and has a cruel reputation. As the wedding day approaches, John feels increasingly uneasy, and before too long his worst forebodings are realized . . . This is book 14 in the John Rawlings mystery series. “The latest in Lake’s long-running series continues to mix period detail and a sound mystery with a hint of romance.” —Kirkus Reviews
Death be my Theme (Robert Fairfax 4)
by Hannah MarchThe fourth novel in the gripping Georgian mystery series chronicling the adventures of Robert Fairfax. A must-read for fans of historical crime fiction.Recuperating from illness in Chelsea - in 1764, a rural spot outside the jostling city - Robert Fairfax expects to be bored. But a chance meeting with his old flame Cordelia leads to his involvement with a very unusual family: the Mozarts of Salzburg, whose young son is the musical prodigy creating a stir throughout their tour of Europe.The boy is as inquisitive as any child, and it is this which makes him an uncomprehending but vital witness to the bizarre events surrounding the death of Mr Gabriel Chilcott, an elderly, wealthy and ill-tempered music-lover. His pretty young wife seems to have secrets she does not care to divulge, and the mystery deepens with the horrific discovery by the river of a local maid's murdered body.Fairfax's investigation of these strange events leads him to a puzzle that seems too great for his powers to solve - unless he can garner a critical clue from the remarkable little boy whom the world will know as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
Death by Airship (Orca Currents)
by Arthur SladePrince Conn will never be king. And that's just fine with him. Conn is ninth in line for the pirate throne and is quite happy to sail the skies in his airship with his crew of cheery misfits, plundering as they go. But one by one his siblings are being murdered, in tragic fires, violent cannon attacks or mysterious poisonings. Soon all fingers are pointing toward Conn as the mastermind. To prove his innocence, Conn must make his way to Skull Island, navigating his airship through a gauntlet of villains, explosions and betrayals. Can he reach his father's kingdom before it's too late? Or will he suffer the same fate as the rest of his family? This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!
Death by Effigy
by Luis R. CortegueraOn July 21, 1578, the Mexican town of Tecamachalco awoke to news of a scandal. A doll-like effigy hung from the door of the town's church. Its two-faced head had black chicken feathers instead of hair. Each mouth had a tongue sewn onto it, one with a forked end, the other with a gag tied around it. Signs and symbols adorned the effigy, including a sambenito, the garment that the Inquisition imposed on heretics. Below the effigy lay a pile of firewood. Taken together, the effigy, signs, and symbols conveyed a deadly message: the victim of the scandal was a Jew who should burn at the stake. Over the course of four years, inquisitors conducted nine trials and interrogated dozens of witnesses, whose testimonials revealed a vivid portrait of friendship, love, hatred, and the power of rumor in a Mexican colonial town.A story of dishonor and revenge, Death by Effigy also reveals the power of the Inquisition's symbols, their susceptibility to theft and misuse, and the terrible consequences of doing so in the New World. Recently established and anxious to assert its authority, the Mexican Inquisition relentlessly pursued the perpetrators. Lying, forgery, defamation, rape, theft, and physical aggression did not concern the Inquisition as much as the misuse of the Holy Office's name, whose political mission required defending its symbols. Drawing on inquisitorial papers from the Mexican Inquisition's archive, Luis R. Corteguera weaves a rich narrative that leads readers into a world vastly different from our own, one in which symbols were as powerful as the sword.
Death by Fame: A Life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria
by Andrew SinclairA biography of the Empress of Austria—a tale of rebellion, scandal, and murder that paints a vivid, tragic picture of nineteenth-century European royalty.In 1898, anarchist Luigi Lucheni fatally stabbed Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, on Lake Geneva as she prepared to board a steamer from the Mont Blanc pier. Her life had been one of both profound sadness and inspiring perseverance, and in its course she set the style for the royal rebels who would follow her, including Diana, Princess of Wales.While still a child, Elisabeth was married to the Hapsburg prince Franz Josef, heir to the Austrian Empire. She gave him three children, one of whom, Crown Prince Rudolf, would later commit suicide at Mayerling. Finding the atmosphere of the Austro-Hungarian court stifling, the increasingly erratic empress traveled incessantly. Abandoning her husband to the attentions of the Viennese comic actress Katharina Schratt, Elisabeth went on errands of mercy to the docks and slums of London and Liverpool, Barcelona and Naples, Smyrna and Marseilles. She was the despair of local police, who could not protect her, even though she wore disguises. She supported independence movements in Ireland, where she hunted superbly alongside her close companion, the English cavalryman “Bay” Middleton, and also in Hungary, an integral part of her husband’s deteriorating empire.When Lucheni assassinated the empress, he killed the most alluring royal figure of the Victorian age. But fame was her real executioner. Her celebrity had led to her death. Elisabeth had been driven into loneliness until she had lost all sense of reality—pursuing a desperate liberty that a confined marriage would never allow her. This biography tells her colorful, tragic, fascinating story.“A well-written, thoroughly researched story of a popular and beautiful empress, who, while self-indulgent, sought a life of privacy and peace, and showed sympathy and charity toward the poor.” —Kirkus Reviews
Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema (Film and Culture Series)
by Maggie HennefeldCan you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate—or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries would have us believe. How could laughter be fatal, and what do these reports of women’s risible deaths tell us about the politics of female joy?Maggie Hennefeld reveals the forgotten histories of “hysterical laughter,” exploring how women’s amusement has been theorized and demonized, suppressed and exploited. In nineteenth-century medicine and culture, hysteria was an ailment that afflicted unruly women on the cusp of emotional or nervous breakdown. Cinema, Hennefeld argues, made it possible for women to laugh outrageously as never before, with irreversible social and political consequences. As female enjoyment became a surefire promise of profitability, alarmist tales of women laughing themselves to death epitomized the tension between subversive pleasure and its violent repression.Hennefeld traces the social politics of women’s laughter from the heyday of nineteenth-century sentimentalism to the collective euphoria of early film spectatorship, traversing contagious dancing outbreaks, hysteria photography, madwomen’s cackling, cinematic close-ups, and screenings of slapstick movies in mental asylums. Placing little-known silent films and an archive of remarkable, often unusual texts in conversation with affect theory, comedy studies, and feminist film theory, this book makes a timely case for the power of hysterical laughter to change the world.
Death by Misadventure: A Lady Emily Mystery (Lady Emily Mysteries #18)
by Tasha AlexanderIn the next installment of Tasha Alexander’s New York Times bestselling series, Lady Emily must solve a string of high stakes “accidents” while trapped in a lavish villa in the Bavarian Alps.In the winter of 1906, Lady Emily and husband Colin are invited to the opulent home of Baroness Ursula von Duchtel in the Bavarian alps. Outside is a mountainous winter wonderland with a view of Mad King Ludwig’s fairy tale castle. Inside, the villa hosts a magnificent but eclectic art collection—as well as an equally eclectic collection of fellow guests, among them a musician, an art dealer, a coquette from the demi-monde, and Kaspar, the Baroness’ boorish son-in-law, whom, it begins to appear, someone wants dead. Almost forty years earlier, Niels, a young German lord, sings to himself in the forest surrounding those same alps, capturing the attention of a not-yet-mad King Ludwig. Niels and the king become fast friends, their relationship deepening into something more as their time together stretches on. But while King Ludwig is content to live out a fantasy where their responsibilities don't matter and the outside world doesn't affect them, Niels knows that their bliss cannot last forever... Decades later, Emily continues to investigate Kaspar's increasingly lethal “mishaps" when tragedy strikes, ensnaring the guests in a web of fear and suspicion. It’s up to Emily to sift through old secrets and motivations, some stretching far into the past, to unmask the killer.
Death by Moderation: The U. S. Military's Quest for Useable Weapons
by David A. KoplowThis book addresses an important but little-noticed phenomenon in the revolutionary world of military technology. Across a wide range of otherwise-unrelated weapons programs, the Pentagon is now pursuing arms that are deliberately crafted to be less powerful, less deadly, and less destructive than the systems they are designed to supplement or replace. This direction is historically anomalous; military forces generally pursue ever-bigger bangs, but the modern conditions of counter-insurgency warfare and military operations "other than war" (such as peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance) demand a military capable of modulated force. By providing a capacity to intervene deftly yet effectively, the new generations of "useable" weaponry should enable the U.S. military to accomplish its demanding missions in a manner consistent with legal obligations, public relations realities, and political constraints. Five case studies are provided, regarding precision-guided "smart bombs," low-yield nuclear weapons, self-neutralizing anti-personnel land mines, directed-energy anti-satellite weapons, and non-lethal weapons.
Death by Petticoat: American History Myths Debunked
by Mary Miley TheobaldThis myth-busting compendium sets the record straight on American history, from famous-but-false legends to weird-but-true stories. American history is full of oft-repeated errors and outright fabrications—as well as truths that are stranger than fiction. Collaborating with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Mary Miley Theobald has uncovered the real stories behind many well-known myth-understandings. Did pregnant women really seclude themselves indoors? Were uneven stairs made to trip up burglars? Did people only bathe once a year? Death by Petticoat reveals the truth about these and many other funny, surprising, and strange misapprehensions of history.
Death by Water: A Phryne Fisher Mystery (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries #15)
by Kerry GreenwoodMiss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, now streaming on Netflix, starring Essie Davis as the honourable Phryne Fisher"While memories of the Titanic linger among the ship's passengers, readers are treated to descriptions of sumptuous meals and snippets of Maori lore, along with a tantalizing mystery. Those who long to revel in a glamorous if imperfect past will be satisfied." —Publishers WeeklyThe nice men at P&O are worried. A succession of jewelry thefts from the first-class passengers is hardly the best advertisement for their cruises. Especially when it is likely that a passenger is the thief.Phryne Fisher, with her Lulu bob, green eyes, cupid's bow lips, and sense of the ends justifying the means, is just the person to mingle seamlessly with the upper classes and take on a case of theft on the high seas—or at least on the S.S. Hinemoa—on a luxury cruise to New Zealand. She is carrying the Great Queen of Sapphires, the Maharani, as bait.There are shipboard romances, champagne cocktails, erotic photographers, jealous swains, mickey finns, jazz musicians, blackmail, and attempted murder, all before the thieves find out—as have countless love-smitten men before them—that where the glamorous and intelligent Phryne is concerned, resistance is futile.
Death by Water: A Phryne Fisher Mystery (Phryne Fisher #15)
by Kerry GreenwoodThe nice men at P&O are worried. A succession of jewelry thefts from the first-class passengers is hardly the best advertisement for their cruises. Especially when it is likely that a passenger is the thief. Phryne Fisher, with her Lulu bob, green eyes, cupid's bow lips, and sense that the ends justify the means, is just the person to mingle seamlessly with the upper classes and take on a case of theft on the high seas or at least on the S.S. Hinemoa, on a luxury cruise to New Zealand. She is carrying the Great Queen of Sapphires, the Maharani, as bait. Shipboard romances, champagne cocktails, erotic photographers, jealous swains, Mickey Finns, jazz musicians, blackmail, and attempted murder mingle before the thieves find out, as have countless love-smitten men before them, that where the glamorous and intelligent Phryne is concerned, resistance is futile.
Death by a Thousand Cuts
by Timothy Brook Gregory Blue Jérôme BourgonIn a public square in Beijing in 1904, multiple murderer Wang Weiqin was executed before a crowd of onlookers. He was among the last to suffer the extreme punishment known as lingchi. Called by Western observers “death by a thousand cuts” or “death by slicing,” this penalty was reserved for the very worst crimes in imperial China.A unique interdisciplinary history, Death by a Thousand Cuts is the first book to explore the history, iconography, and legal contexts of Chinese tortures and executions from the tenth century until lingchi’s abolition in 1905. The authors then turn their attention to an in-depth investigation of “oriental” tortures in the Western imagination. While early modern Europeans often depicted Chinese institutions as rational, nineteenth- and twentieth-century readers consumed pictures of lingchi executions as titillating curiosities and evidence of moral inferiority. By examining these works in light of European conventions associated with despotic government, Christian martyrdom, and ecstatic suffering, the authors unpack the stereotype of innate Chinese cruelty and explore the mixture of fascination and revulsion that has long characterized the West’s encounter with “other” civilizations.Compelling and thought-provoking, Death by a Thousand Cuts questions the logic by which states justify tormenting individuals and the varied ways by which human beings have exploited the symbolism of bodily degradation for political aims.
Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight Over Taxing Inherited Wealth
by Ian Shapiro Michael J. GraetzThis fast-paced book by Yale professors Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro unravels the following mystery: How is it that the estate tax, which has been on the books continuously since 1916 and is paid by only the wealthiest two percent of Americans, was repealed in 2001 with broad bipartisan support? The mystery is all the more striking because the repeal was not done in the dead of night, like a congressional pay raise. It came at the end of a multi-year populist campaign launched by a few individuals, and was heralded by its supporters as a signal achievement for Americans who are committed to the work ethic and the American Dream. Graetz and Shapiro conducted wide-ranging interviews with the relevant players: members of congress, senators, staffers from the key committees and the Bush White House, civil servants, think tank and interest group representatives, and many others. The result is a unique portrait of American politics as viewed through the lens of the death tax repeal saga. Graetz and Shapiro brilliantly illuminate the repeal campaign's many fascinating and unexpected turns--particularly the odd end result whereby the repeal is slated to self-destruct a decade after its passage. They show that the stakes in this fight are exceedingly high; the very survival of the long standing American consensus on progressive taxation is being threatened. Graetz and Shapiro's rich narrative reads more like a political drama than a conventional work of scholarship. Yet every page is suffused by their intimate knowledge of the history of the tax code, the transformation of American conservatism over the past three decades, and the wider political implications of battles over tax policy.
Death from a Top Hat
by Clayton RawsonA magician turned detective is caught up in the most baffling locked-room murder mystery...'One of the all-time greatest impossible murder mysteries' Publishers Weekly starred review'Dazzling' Saturday Review'A cornerstone of detective fiction' New York TimesMaster magician The Great Merlini has hung up his top hat and white gloves, and now spends his days running a magic shop in New York and his nights moonlighting as a consultant for the NYPD. When the crimes seem impossible, it is his magician's mind they need. So when two occultists are discovered dead in locked rooms, one spread out on a pentagram, both appearing to have been murdered under similar circumstances, Merlini is immediately called in. The list of suspects includes an escape artist, a professional medium, and a ventriloquist - and it is only too clear that this is a world Merlini knows rather too well...
Death in Acadia: And Other Misadventures in Maine's National Park (Dear Earthling)
by Randi MinetorMaine Acadia National Park is one of the most visited national parks in the United States. It is an adventure seeker's paradise. Hiking, climbing, snowshoeing, back-country skiing, and ice-climbing are among the activities pursued there; as well as the less extreme sight seeing along the Park Road and Atlantic coast. Death in Acadia gathers the stories of fatalities that have occurred in the park, from falls to exposure to cardiac arrest--even getting swept out to sea--and presents dozens of misadventures.
Death in Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World)
by Valerie HopePresenting a wide range of relevant, translated texts on death, burial and commemoration in the Roman world, this book is organized thematically and supported by discussion of recent scholarship. The breadth of material included ensures that this sourcebook will shed light on the way death was thought about and dealt with in Roman society.
Death in Bayswater: A Frances Doughty Mystery 6
by Linda StratmannLondon 1881: Panic reigns in Bayswater as a ruthless murderer prowls the foggy streets of the nation’s capital. Residents live in fear, rumours and accusations abound, and vigilante groups patrol by night. It is not, of course, a suitable investigation for a lady detective, but when a friend falls victim to the killer’s knife, Frances Doughty is drawn into this sinister new case. Myth and reality collide in another thrilling mystery that will stretch Frances’ powers of deduction – and her courage – to the limit.
Death in Breslau
by Marek KrajewskiThe butchered bodies of a young woman and her maid are discovered in a train-carriage. The dreadful slashes to their stomachs are rendered even more awful by the bizarre presence of scorpions, writhing inside the wounds. Assigned to the case, Criminal Counsellor Eberhard Mock and his assistant Herbert Anwaldt must search for the truth within a society in the malevolent grip of the Gestapo, where corrupt ministers torture Jewish merchants for false confessions and Freemasons protect their secrets with blackmail and violence. In a city already drenched in fear, Mock and Anwaldt's hunt for the killer leads them to the time of the Crusades, an era when secret sects practised ritual murder.
Death in Captivity: A Second World War Mystery (British Library Crime Classics #0)
by Michael GilbertDiscover the captivating treasures buried in the British Library's archives. Largely inaccessible to the public until now, this classic crime novel, featuring the challenges of World War II, was written in the golden age of detective fiction."Any book by Michael Gilbert is a treat"—Daily TelegraphA man is found dead in an escape tunnel beneath an Italian prisoner-of-war camp. Did he die in an accidental collapse—or was this murder? Captain Henry 'Cuckoo' Goyles, master tunneller and amateur detective, takes up the case.This classic locked-room mystery with a closed circle of suspects is woven together with a thrilling story of escape from the camp, as the Second World War nears its endgame, and the British prisoners prepare to flee into the Italian countryside.Perfect for readers of Sophie Hannah and Louise Penny!Also in the British Library Crime Classics:Smallbone DeceasedThe Body in the Dumb RiverBlood on the TracksSurfeit of SuspectsDeath Has Deep RootsCheckmate to Murder
Death in Cyprus: A Mystery (Death in . . .)
by M. M. KayeTwenty-year-old Amanda Derrington is on an extended cruise with her uncle when she decides to make a short trip to the sun-washed island of Cyprus. But even before the ship arrives in the port, there is a suspicious death. Once the passengers reach the island, it soon becomes clear that the death was in fact an act of murder. What Amanda had meant to be a pleasant excursion quickly takes a turn for the worse in M. M. Kaye's Death in Cyprus, a classic novel of suspense and romance by one of our most celebrated writers.
Death in Dark Glasses (The Inspector Littlejohn Mysteries)
by George BellairsThe disappearance of a reclusive widower sends Detective Littlejohn on a far-flung hunt for a killer in this classic British mystery.It was meant to be a fool-proof scheme. The victim was someone who wouldn’t be missed, yet even the most meticulous criminals can make mistakes. When questions about a minor case of fraud lead to a missing persons case, the local bank’s chief inspector calls in Detective Littlejohn to investigate.It seems that a bank customer has disappeared just after withdrawing a large sum of money. The only clue to his whereabouts is a note on his front door saying he’d gone abroad. But when they discover the man’s brother had been murdered, Littlejohn realizes something sinister is afoot.
Death in Daylesford (Phryne Fisher #21)
by Kerry Greenwood'Greenwood's strength lies in her ability to create characters that are wholly satisfying: the bad guys are bad, and the good guys are great' VogueWhen a mysterious invitation arrives for the redoubtable Miss Phryne Fisher from an unknown retired Captain Herbert Spencer, Phryne's curiosity is excited. Spencer runs a retreat in Victoria's rural spa country for the many shell-shocked soldiers of the first world war. It's a cause after Phryne's own heart but what does Spencer want from her? Meanwhile, Cec, Bert and Tinker find a young woman floating face down in the harbour near the wharves. Could this be the missing friend of Ruth, Phryne's adopted daughter? With Detective-Inspector Jack Robinson seconded unwillingly to a special investigation, Mr and Mrs Butler with Detective-Sergeant Hugh Collins are left to shield Phryne's household from danger as Tinker, Jane and Ruth decide to solve what appears to be a heinous crime. Unaware of these happenings, Phryne and the faithful Dot view their rural sojourn as a short holiday but are quickly thrown into disturbing Highland gatherings, disappearing women, murder and the mystery of the Temperance Hotel. All test Phryne's resourcefulness in her search to save lives. Disappearances, murder, bombs, booby-traps and strange goings-on keep Miss Phryne Fisher right in the middle of her most exciting adventure.Praise for Kerry Greenwood:'Elegant, fabulously wealthy and sharp as a tack, Phryne sleuths with customary panache... [she is] irresistibly charming' The Age'Phryne Fisher is gutsy and adventurous, and endowed with plenty of grey matter' West Australian'In a word: delightful' Herald Sun'Miss Fisher has beauty, brains and oodles of style ... a well-constructed novel that enchants, excites, enthrals and entertains' Good Reading Magazine