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The Donkey-Vous: A Mamur Zapt Mystery (Mamur Zapt Mysteries #3)
by Michael PearcePru Marlowe isn't your ordinary animal psychic. A tough girl on the run from her own gift, Pru left the big city to return to her picturesque Berkshires hometown looking for a little peace. Too bad that her training as an animal behaviorist got her mixed up with Lily, a rescue dog, and Charles, her person. Now Charles is dead, and Lily looks good for it. After all, Lily is a pitbull, a fighting-ring dropout, and way too traumatized to give Pru a clear picture of what she has witnessed. But Pru knows something about bad girls trying to clean up, and, with a sense of justice strong enough to overcome her dislike of human society, she takes the case. Listening to the animals, Pru picks up clues—and learns there are secrets in the pretty little town that make murder look simple. Unable to tell anybody about her psychic abilities, uncertain at times about her own sanity, Pru comes to realize that if she clears Lily, she'll likely become the prime suspect—or the next victim. While the only creature she can totally trust is her crotchety tabby Wallis, Pru's got to uncover the real killer—and find a way to live with her gift—before the real beasts in the town savage her and those she has come to love. The first in the Pru Marlowe "pet noir" series.
Roman Games: Roman Games, One For Sorrow, Wine Of Violence (Plinius Secundus Series #2)
by Bruce Macbain"Macbain's debut novel convincingly re-creates everyday life in ancient Rome, weaving real and fictional characters with aplomb."—Kirkus ReviewsWhen the body of Sextus Verpa, a notorious senatorial informer and libertine, is found stabbed to death in his bedroom, suspicion falls on his household slaves—a potential death sentence for all.The cruel emperor, Domitian, orders Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus—known to history as Pliny the Younger—to investigate. However, the Ludi Romani (the Roman Games) have just begun, and for the next fifteen days the law courts are in recess. If Pliny can't identify the murderer in that time, Verpa's entire slave household will be burned alive in the arena.Pliny teams up with Martial, a starving author of bawdy verses and hanger-on to the city's glitterati, to unravel a plot that involves Jewish and Christian "atheists," exotic Egyptian cultists, Rome's own pantheon of gods, and a missing horoscope that forecasts the emperor's death....
Desert Cut: A Lena Jones Mystery (Lena Jones Series #5)
by Betty WebbIn a culture obsessed with celebrity, baby Muffin's death is big news. Crib death—or something more sinister? Everyone wants to know, including the police. Whatever the truth, the bereaved parents—celebrity couple Jodee and Chazz—live in curate Callie Anson's parish. And despite the disapproval of her vicar and his wife, Callie becomes involved with funeral arrangements.It's a high-profile case, all right. Detective Inspector Neville Stewart is even recalled from his honeymoon to investigate—with disastrous personal results. And journalist Lilith Noone's professional future is on the line as she is sucked more deeply into her own flirtations with celebrity culture.But for police family liaison officer Mark Lombardi, the death of baby Muffin is eclipsed by another death much closer to home. He soon finds himself in an impossible position, torn between his loyalty to his family and his growing love for Callie.Deep Waters takes an unflinching look at our ambivalent relationship with the celebrities we make...and discard.
Away With the Fairies (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries #11)
by Kerry GreenwoodMiss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, now streaming on Netflix, starring Essie Davis as the honourable Phryne FisherIt's 1928 in Melbourne and Phryne is asked to investigate the puzzling death of a famous author and illustrator of fairy stories. To do so, Phryne takes a job within the women's magazine that employed the victim and finds herself enmeshed in her colleagues' deceptions.But while Phryne is learning the ins and outs of magazine publishing first hand, her personal life is thrown into chaos. Impatient for her lover Lin Chung's imminent return from a silk-buying expedition to China, she instead receives an unusual summons from Lin Chung's family, followed by a series of mysterious assaults and warnings.
Some Clouds: A Héctor Belascoarán Shayne Detective Novel (Hector Belascoaran Shayne Detective Novels #0)
by Paco Ignacio Taibo IIMexico City detective Héctor Belascoarán Shayne is summoned home from vacation by his sister, whose childhood friend Anita has been raped and nearly killed by unknown assailants. Héctor discovers that Anita, recently married into the wealthy Costa family, has just seen her husband and his two brothers systematically murdered. Now, if she can stay alive long enough to receive it, Anita stands in line to receive a legacy of some 200 million pesos.During his investigation, Héctor trades stories with a novelist who is writing a crime novel based upon the recent murder of fourteen narcotraficantes and has traced the crime directly back to Judicial Police Commander Saavedra. How can a detective operate in a society in which the social and political institutions designed to protect the people are hopelessly corrupt?
Nantucket Sawbuck: A Henry Kennis Mystery (Henry Kennis Nantucket Mysteries #1)
by Steven Axelrod"Axelrod's promising debut introduces a protagonist who will remind readers of Robert Parker's sleuths. The two-part story structure ("Premeditation"and "Post Mortem") also gives readers an Ellery Queen type of opportunity to "help solve" the crime." —Library JournalWhen Nantucket homeowner Preston Lomax is killed, everyone on the island could be a suspect. Lomax lived large, owed money, and the word was spreading he was planning to stiff them all and disappear. Chief of Police Henry Kennis, a newcomer from California, investigates with help from the State Police. Together they solve the case—or so it appears. But Kennis can't shake the feeling that they've missed something.Kennis soon discovers scandals, intrigues and an eclectic cast of local characters—oddball journalists, surfing carpenters, drug dealers, wealthy homeowners and their slacker children. Kennis uncovers a truth that lies somewhere between the bad blood and the good neighbors.
Comes a Time for Burning: A Dr. Thomas Parks Mystery (Dr. Thomas Parks Series #0)
by Steven F. Havill1892: Busy stitching and bandaging lumberjacks' injuries, young Dr. Thomas Parks has no idea that his worst enemy is lurking in the sleepy village of Port McKinney.When one of the working girls at the Clarissa Hotel is brought to the Clinic desperately ill, Thomas' newly arrived associate wastes no time in making the diagnosis - Asian Cholera has somehow found this backwater near Puget Sound. The cholera strikes viciously and kills in days, sometimes even hours. It soon becomes apparent that Thomas and his clinic have neither the supplies nor the means to provide effective treatment for the outbreak, and in hours, they are swamped.Afraid for the safety of his wife and daughter and all those close to him, Thomas is still driven by professional curiosity about the contagion's origins, especially when it appears that one of his own nurses is in some way responsible. Before he can mount a truly effective defense, the battle spreads, threatening the very life of the village...
A Pinchbeck Bride: A Mark Winslow Mystery (large Print 16pt) (Mark Winslow Series #0)
by Stephen AnableIrreverent Chicago racetrack publicist Jack Doyle, former advertising man and amateur boxer, accepts a new job as a thoroughbred jockey's agent. His client is a seventeen-year-old riding phenom from Ireland named Mickey Sheehan. Mickey and Jack prove to be an effective team until someone begins secretly doping the horses, affecting race results.In his quest to identify the culprit, Doyle is aided by his old friend Moe Kellman, furrier-to-the-Mob; trainer Ralph Tenuta, himself the target of a blackmailer; and young veterinarian Ingrid McGuire, a talented horse communicator. The action moves from Chicago's Heartland Downs to New York's famed Saratoga Race Course, even stepping aboard Mob capo Fifi Bonadio's lavish yacht in Chicago's Belmont Harbor. Will Jack's persistent push for answers get him killed?
Twice Buried (Posadas County Mysteries #3)
by Steven F. HavillIf history is right, a 26 year-old beauty named Winnie Ruth Judd murdered her two best girlfriends one hot Phoenix night in 1931. Then she hacked up their bodies, stuffed the pieces into a trunk, and took them by train to Los Angeles as her baggage.If history is right, she was sentenced to die but "cheated the gallows" by acting insane. She spent nearly 40 years in Arizona's insane asylum-flummoxing officials by escaping six times.If history is right, she only got her freedom at age 66-after serving more time than any other convicted murderer in the history of the nation—because Arizona was finally tired of punishing her.But if history is wrong, Winnie Ruth Judd's life was squandered in a horrible miscarriage of justice.Award-winning journalist Jana Bommersbach reinvestigates the twisted, bizarre murder case that has captivated the nation for decades. She not only uncovers evidence long hidden, but gets Winnie Ruth Judd to break her life-long silence and finally speak.In telling the story of this American crime legend, Bommersbach also tells the story of Phoenix, Arizona—a backwater town that would become a major American city—and the story of a unique moment in American history filled with social taboos.But most of all, she tells the story of a woman with the courage to survive.
Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics #0)
by Martin Edwards EditorMystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder"Edwards's second winter-themed anthology in the British Library Crime Classics series is a standout. As in the most successful of such volumes, the editor's expertise results in a selection of unusual suspects, expanding readers' knowledge." —Publishers Weekly STARRED reviewCrimson Snow brings together a dozen vintage crime stories set in winter. Welcome to a world of Father Christmases behaving oddly, a famous fictional detective in a Yuletide drama, mysterious tracks in the snow, and some very unpleasant carol singers. There's no denying that the supposed season of goodwill is a time of year that lends itself to detective fiction.On a cold night, it's tempting to curl up by the fireside with a good mystery. And more than that, claustrophobic house parties, with people cooped up with long-estranged relatives, can provide plenty of motives for murder.Including forgotten stories by major writers such as Margery Allingham, as well as classic tales by less familiar crime novelists, each story in this selection is introduced by the leading expert on classic crime, Martin Edwards. The resulting volume is an entertaining and atmospheric compendium of wintry delights.
The Rose in the Wheel: A Regency Mystery (Regency Mysteries #0)
by S. K. RizzoloRegency London knows Constance Tyrone as the conspicuously celibate founder of the St. Catherine Society, dedicated to helping poor women. One wet November evening a carriage mows down Constance outside her office.Curiously, while her corpse's one foot is bare, the other is shod in a clean satin slipper despite the muddy road. Why was a gentlewoman abroad in the night? And if she died under the wheel, whose hands bruised her neck and stole her monogrammed crucifix? Dismissing the idea of an accident, Bow Street Runner John Chase forms an unlikely alliance with Penelope Wolfe, wife of the chief suspect. A young mother paying the price for an imprudent marriage, Penelope is eager to clear her husband Jeremy, a feckless portrait painter whose salacious drawings of the victim suggest an erotic interest.Chase's first task is to learn the identity of the mysterious benefactor who goes bail for Wolfe while Penelope traces the victim's last movements. Barrister Edward Buckler, intrigued, shakes off his habitual lethargy and joins their investigation. As horrifying murders on the Ratcliffe Highway claim all London's attention, the trio discovers that it won't be easy to unravel the enigma of Constance Tyrone.
Blood for Wine (Cal Claxton Mysteries #5)
by Warren C EasleyNero Wolfe Award Finalist for 2018"Oenophiles and aspiring vintners will enjoy the wine lore in this well-wrought tale of love and betrayal." —Publishers WeeklyCal Claxton's old farmhouse sits high in Oregon's Red Hills, home of scores of wineries and some of the most coveted acreage for growing the pinot noir grape in the world. Former Los Angeles prosecutor Cal settled in this haven to reboot his life as a widower, growing a small practice that includes some pro bono work in nearby Portland. Life is good, filled with food, wine, and friends. But this beautiful area is not the idyllic haven it appears to be.When Cal's neighbor, Jim Kavanaugh, the owner and gifted vintner of an up-and-coming winery, is accused of murdering his wife, his freedom—and the grape harvest—is suddenly in jeopardy along with his reputation, and his business begins to slide. No gentleman farmer, this puts the rugged winemaker's property, his only financial asset, in play. When a blackmail plot is hatched against the owner of adjacent land, it begins to look like a brutal game of real-life Monopoly is underway.Cal agrees to defend Jim, a good friend, which pulls him reluctantly into the blackmail plot. Emotions are running high over Lori Kavanaugh's bloody death. There is no shortage of suspects. There may be more than the one game in play. And defending Jim might well make Cal the next target of a vicious, cunning killer.
Stolen Hearts: A Grace Street Mystery (Grace Street Mysteries #1)
by Jane Tesh2018 ALA Book Club October Pick, Things that Go Bump: Paranormal MysteriesDavid Randall's perfect family life came derailed when his little daughter Lindsey died in a car crash. Thrown out by his second wife and wanting to leave a dead-end detective agency to start his own, he reluctantly accepts his psychic friend Camden's invitation to stay in Camden's boarding house in Parkland, North Carolina.Meanwhile, working the case of the murder of Albert Bennett, Randall's only clue is a notebook filled with odd musical notation. When another client, Melanie Gentry, hires him to prove her great-grandmother was murdered by her lover, composer John Burrows Ashford, over authorship of "Patchwork Melodies," Randall sets out to find a connection to Bennett's murder, as well as to the murder of a Smithsonian director, who was preparing a new PBS documentary on early American music.Randall's investigations lead him to another notebook, where he finds not only "Two Hearts Singing," Ashford's most famous song, but a valuable early copy of Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna," hidden in the cover. But things become more complicated when Ashford's spirit parks itself in Cam...and refuses to leave until Randall proves Ashford's innocence.
Fighting Chance: A Martial Arts Mystery
by B. K. StevensSeventeen-year-old Matt Foley has a typical set of problems: feeling alienated from his perpetually perky family, struggling to focus on classes when sports seem far more interesting, chafing at the slow pace of life in his small Virginia town. The usual. Until his coach and mentor is killed at a tae kwon do tournament.During a sparring match, Bobby Davis, a baby-faced stranger from Richmond, crushes the coach's larynx with a powerful spinning hook kick. To the police, it looks like a tragic accident. To Matt, it looks like deliberate murder. A few of his friends agree, including the attractive but puzzling Graciana Cortez, editor of the school paper. Matt knows it doesn't make much sense for teenagers to investigate a murder, but if he doesn't do something, who will?Matt sneaks off to Richmond, following a lead to an illegal fight club, where he watches Davis easily defeat a string of opponents. Barely escaping the club without a fight himself, Matt nonetheless persists in his investigation, even though his search for answers brings him into conflict with his school, the police, and his parents. He wants to improve his self-defense skills—so he, along with Graciana, joins a krav maga class, taught by a man who becomes his new mentor—because Matt can't escape the feeling that, before all this is over, he'll have to face Bobby Davis himself.
The Girl in the Nile (Mamur Zapt Mysteries #5)
by Michael Pearce1909 Egypt. It's easy to go adrift in the complex political currents swirling through a country that has long been "advised" by the British after the mess it made of its finances, but now swelling with nationalism. And you can't discount the self-interest of the Khedive, the Royal Family, and of the country's pashas. Nevertheless, Captain Gareth Owen, Head of the Cairo Secret Police, has to ask, "Where's the body?" The girl, perhaps a woman of ill repute but one definitely lost overboard, had been glimpsed lying on a sandbank in the Nile. Then she vanished. Why had Prince Narouz hired the dahabeeyah? Surely not just to cruise to Luxor—the man has no interest in antiquities. And why was Miss Sekhmet on the boat anyway? Was it for the Prince's pleasure, or to embarrass him? Under heavy pressure from politicos and his own mistress, the strong-minded Zeinab, Owen steers a difficult course after a murderer....
The Santa Klaus Murder: A British Library Crime Classic (British Library Crime Classics #0)
by Mavis Doriel Hay"[A] marvelous blend of history and mystery..." —Publishers Weekly STARRED reviewIt should have been routine, a simple assignment for PI Sam Blackman and his partner Nakayla Robertson. Follow a history professor who's suing a spinal surgeon for malpractice and catch her in physical activities that undercut her claim.When professor Janice Wainwright visits Connemara, Carl Sandburg's home in Flat Rock, N.C., and climbs the arduous trail to the top of Glassy Mountain, Sam believes he has the evidence needed to expose her—until he finds the woman semiconscious and bleeding on the mountain's granite outcropping. Her final words: "It's the Sandburg verses. The Sandburg verses."As the person to discover the dying woman, Sam becomes the first suspect. An autopsy reveals painkillers in her blood and solid proof of the surgeon's errors. Why did this suffering woman attempt to climb the mountain? Did she stumble and fall? Did someone cause her death?A break-in at the Wainwright farmhouse and the theft of Sandburg volumes convince Sam someone is seeking potentially deadly information. But what did Pulitzer Prize winner Sandburg have in his literary collection that inspires multiple murders? And who will be targeted next?
Lethal Lineage: The Lottie Albright Series, Book 2 (Lottie Albright Mysteries #2)
by Charlotte HingerA sinister Episcopal Bishop shows up to confirm Lottie and Josie Albright's niece at the new frame church built on the corners of four Western Kansas counties. Suddenly, the Reverend Mary Farnsworth flees to the anteroom after dropping the chalice during communion. Josie, a psychologist, lingers after the service to comfort her, but Lottie orders her sister to leave when they discover Reverend Mary's body. As Deputy Sheriff, Lottie's duty bound to attend to the death.Back at the county-wide picnic, an elderly lady informs Lottie that a man kneeling next to her scared Reverend Mary into a heart attack. Lottie soon learns that the beloved Reverend Mary was a woman without a past, and that the rogue Bishop has unexpected ties to Western Kansas. A sheriff from an adjacent county, unaware that Josie is an FBI consultant, assumes that seizing control of the investigation will be easy and instead arouses the twins' wrath.Forgetting that the past is always present, Lottie's investigation into old documents riles up murderous century-old rivalries....
The Day Will Come (Stella Crown Series #0)
by Judy Clemens"Clemens certainly keeps you guessing."—Kirkus ReviewsIf Stella Crown loves anything as much as her farm, her Harley, and her friends, it's a good dose of rock-and-roll. So she jumps at the chance to see a Philadelphia legend in concert. But during the performance, a bomb threat empties out the club. When the panic subsides, a member of the band is missing. Later that night, the body of singer Genna is found in the club. Genna's boyfriend, the drummer of the band, is a talented but volatile man. Yet police suspect Stella's friend Jordan Granger, sound man for the band.Stella doesn't buy it. Were these two crimes even related? Meanwhile, Stella's boyfriend Nick has a secret of his own. Why isn't he returning her calls? And why was he so edgy, even before the disastrous concert? The answer is something Stella never imagined.
Lone Star (Edna Ferber Mysteries #1)
by Ed IfkovicZookeeper Theodora "Teddy" Bentley takes Alejandro, the Gunn Zoo llama, to a Monterey Bay area Renaissance Faire. Soon after, Teddy stumbles upon the still-warm body of the Reverend Victor Emerson, owner of the local wedding chapel. He is dressed in his royal robes as Henry VIII. At first it appears as if Alejandro stomped the man to death, but a closer look reveals a crossbow dart in the man's back.Teddy's investigation proves the "reverend" is really an escaped convict, and every marriage he's performed in the past twenty years is null and void. He twice married Teddy's ex-beauty queen mother Caro to wealthy men, and when both marriages failed, Caro received large financial settlements. Now she may have to give all that money back.But Caro wasn't the only person with a grievance against Victor. The child of the man Victor once murdered may have wanted to kill him, too. Then Teddy's embezzling father flies in from exile in Costa Rica to help spring Caro from jail, putting his own freedom in jeopardy. Can Teddy solve this case before someone else she knows is implicated?
Dead Man's Switch: The Kate Reilly Mysteries, Book 1 (Kate Reilly Mysteries #1)
by Tammy Kaehler"Kaehler's clear explanations of technical jargon make the racing world come alive. An engaging debut; I can't wait to see where Kate and the crew go next." —Library JournalAspiring race car driver Kate Reilly goes looking for a full-time ride in the American Le Mans Series—and stumbles over a dead driver. When she takes that driver's job just hours later, she also takes pole position on the list of suspects in his murder. Suddenly she's in the hot seat with little time to clear her name and get ready to race a Corvette at Lime Rock Park.Amid suspicion, Kate buckles down, quickly getting to know the race car and team, bumping into plenty of suspects who might have committed murder. Clues fly at her as fast as the turns on the track, including a cryptic list of blackmail victims, unexplainable car performance at racing speed, a jealous husband with an adulterous wife, and drivers and crew who are openly happy her predecessor is dead. Kate finds exhilaration and hazards exist on- and off-track as she throttles up both the Corvette's V8 and a murder investigation.The green-flag countdown ticks away, and Kate must decide who she can trust to help probe alibis, untangle rumors of team breakups and personal betrayals, and determine whose drive to win also constitutes a willingness to kill. Because what's at stake in Kate's race to the truth is her career … only by uncovering a murderer can Kate restore her reputation and prove she belongs in the racing world.Kate Reilly Mysteries:Dead Man's Switch (Book 1)Braking Points (Book 2)Avoidable Contact (Book 3)Red Flags (Book 4)Kiss the Bricks (Book 5)Praise for the Kate Reilly Mysteries:"Read this book—but buckle in first. Believe me, you're in for a bumpy ride." —WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER, New York Times bestselling author for Braking Points"This series always leaves me wanting more, so I cannot wait to keep reading and see what's next on the horizon for my fellow female racing driver!" —PIPPA MANN, IndyCar driver for Avoidable Contact"As usual, Kaehler combines a credible group of suspects with some detailed racing lore. Even readers who don't care about cars may well be hooked by the feminist angle." —Kirkus Reviews for Kiss the Bricks
The Commission: A Sam Kincaid Mystery (Sam Kincaid Series #0)
by Michael Norman"Norman is off to a fine start with this alternately gripping and repellent crime novel."—Publishers Weekly STARRED reviewLevi Vogue, Chairman of the powerful Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, is gunned down in the driveway of his home as he returns from a late evening tryst with an exotic dancer. Sam Kincaid, Chief of the Special Investigations Branch (SIB) of the Utah Department of Corrections, is assigned to help Salt Lake City Police Department homicide detective Lt. Kate McConnell solve Vogue's murder.The investigation draws Kincaid and McConnell into the city's seedy underbelly, where the investigation focuses on Charles (Slick) Watts, a violent ex-convict with a long criminal history and a score to settle with Levi Vogue. But before Watts can be apprehended, his body is discovered at an abandoned military base in Wendover, Nevada.Kincaid and McConnell soon expand their theory of the case and are led inside the Utah state prison...
Funeral Hotdish: A Mystery
by Jana Bommersbach"Edwards does an impressive job of linking the three murders across the long years." —Kirkus ReviewsOn Halloween, just before the First World War, a young woman's corpse was found with a makeshift shroud frozen to her battered face. Her ghost—the Faceless Woman—is said to walk through Ravenbank each Halloween. Just five years ago, Katya Moss was killed, her face also covered to hide her injuries. The seemingly related cases fascinate Daniel Kind, a specialist in the history of murder. Then, while he is attending a Halloween party in Ravenbank, a third murder occurs. Once again, the corpse's face is shrouded from view. This can't be a coincidence.It all presents DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the Cold Case Review Team, with the toughest challenge of her career. Hannah and Daniel team up professionally. But before they can solve this shocking puzzle, both of them must confront ghosts from their own past, as well as the ghosts of lonely, lovely, and mysterious Ravenbank.
Downtown Strut: An Edna Ferber Mystery (Edna Ferber Mysteries #4)
by Ed Ifkovic"Havill is a master at using procedural details to expose the complexities of small-town relationships, but he also excels at drawing meaning from landscape." —BooklistA rattlesnake fang pegged in a teenager's eye is just the beginning of a spring day for Posadas County Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman. The injured lad's older brother goes missing, and is found dead in an arroyo, apparently killed by his cartwheeling ATV. But most puzzling is what the dead boy found moments before he was killed...an astonishing discovery that takes deputies back to a five-year-old killing. Soon Estelle and the now-retired Bill Gastner find themselves looking for a murderer altogether too close to home.
Darkness Lane (Geneva Chase Crime Reporter Mysteries #2)
by Thomas KiesRandom Road introduced Geneva Chase—"a reporter with a compelling voice, a damaged woman who recounts her own bittersweet story as she hunts down clues," says Library Journal—to murders straight out of a nightmare—six bodies found naked and cut to ribbons in a posh Connecticut home.Having survived this and a personal tragedy, Geneva's story still includes alcoholism and career challenges compounded by the rocky finances of her newspaper employer. But she's working. She's fighting the urge to reconnect with a magnetic yet married lover. And she's raising a rebellious young lady who is not her daughter but a cherished legacy.Nevertheless the newshound in Geneva spurs her to bad if not downright dangerous choices as two unrelated crimes unexpectedly collide. A fifteen-year-old-girl at her ward's high school has vanished along with her English teacher. Is this same-old, same-old, or something more? And then there's the abused woman who torched her sadistic husband, and how to keep her out of the clutches of powerful mobsters—and thus, out of the news.Out on the crime beat, Geneva works to unravel the connection, if any, between these two disparate stories while her newspaper is put up for sale, a high-flying Hollywood production lights up the town, and her personal battles accelerate. Jarring twists and turns include charming movie stars, treacherous diamond merchants, adultery, sex traffickers, and murder. While the clock ticks and Geneva works desperately to find the missing student, she comes to the horrible realization that she's in over her head.Darkness Lane, the second novel in the Geneva Chase Mystery Series, hurtles along at a breakneck speed where nothing is what it seems, and where art and reality collide in a terrifying climax.
The Real Work: On The Mystery Of Mastery
by Adam Gopnik"[W]ise, companionable, and often extremely funny.” —Oliver Burkeman, The Atlantic Best-selling author and New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik investigates a foundational human question: How do we learn—and master—a new skill? For decades now, Adam Gopnik has been one of our most beloved writers, a brilliantly perceptive critic of art, food, France, and more. But recently, he became obsessed by a more fundamental matter, one he had often meditated on in The New Yorker: How do masters learn their miraculous skill, whether it was drawing a museum-ready nude or baking a perfect sourdough loaf? How could anyone become so good at anything? There seemed to be a fundamental mystery to mastery. Was it possible to unravel it? In The Real Work—the term magicians use for the accumulated craft that makes for a great trick—Gopnik becomes a dedicated student of several masters of their craft: a classical painter, a boxer, a dancing instructor, a driving instructor, and others. Rejecting self-help bromides and bullet points, he nevertheless shows that the top people in any field share a set of common qualities and methods. For one, their mastery is always a process of breaking down and building up—of identifying and perfecting the small constituent parts of a skill and the combining them for an overall effect greater than the sum of those parts. For another, mastery almost always involves intentional imperfection—as in music, where vibrato, a way of not quite landing on the right note, carries maximum expressiveness. Gopnik’s simplest and most invigorating lesson, however, is that we are surrounded by mastery. Far from rare, mastery is commonplace, if we only know where to look: from the parent who can whip up a professional strudel to the social worker who—in one of the most personally revealing passages Gopnik has ever written—helps him master his own demons. Spirited and profound, The Real Work will help you understand how mastery can happen in your own life—and, significantly, why each of us relentlessly seeks to better ourselves in the first place.