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Ruby and Custard’s Crochet: Creative crochet projects to make, share and love
by Ruby and CustardThis book will become your go-to crochet guide for years to come. Learn all the essential stitches with clear step-by-step photography and try over 30-easy-to-follow patterns to make beautiful and stylish accessories you'll love to make. Projects include beanie hats, berets, cowls, gloves, scarves and mittens for grown ups; cute hats, scarves and mittens, play accessories and toys for children; and gorgeous rattles, mobiles, blankets and cuddlies for babies. You can also make stylish home accessories, including Christmas decorations, that make the perfect gifts - if you can bear to part with them! Once you've tried the basic pattern, have fun customising designs yourself with your favourite colours and wools - this book shows you everything you need to know to master crochet and create bespoke creations.
Practical Genius: A 5-Step Plan to Turn Your Talent and Passion into Success
by Gina Amaro RudanWHAT’S YOUR GENIUS?Most people consider genius to be a gift, a “lightning bolt from the gods” that strikes people like Einstein or Mozart, but not the rest of us. They see it as a quality—like creativity—that has a magical, exclusive, elusive connotation. That is simply not true, says Gina Rudan. Every one of us has a capacity for genius. Anyone is capable of achieving something so extraordinary that it could change the game for you, your business, and every aspect of your life. In Practical Genius, Rudan shows you how to: • Identify your genius • Express it in everyday life • Surround yourself with genius • Sustain genius for a lifetime of personal and professional satisfaction • Market your genius to others Each stage features exercises to guide you along the way, leaving you feeling accomplished and ready for the next stage. The outcome is a profound revelation: You have the tools and ability to realize greatness both in and out of the workplace. UNLEASH YOUR GENIUSForget what you think you know about genius. It’s not about having a Mensa I.Q. or painting the Sistine Chapel. Everyone’s got genius, but it’s up to you to find it, put it to work, and watch it change your life. With the help of Practical Genius, you will: Identify your genius. Where do your passions and your talents meet? (page 23) Express your genius. What’s your story, and how do you share it with others? (page 57) Surround yourself with genius. Who do you need in your tribe? (page 93) Sustain your genius. How do you feed and care for your genius? (page 135) Market your genius. Why are your contradictions actually your largest competitive advantage? (page 165)
Nonlinear Pedagogy and the Athletic Skills Model: The Importance of Play in Supporting Physical Literacy
by James Rudd Ian Renshaw Geert Savelsbergh Jia Yi Chow Will Roberts Daniel Newcombe Keith DavidsThis book offers an ecological conceptualisation of physical literacy. Re-embracing our ancestry as hunter gatherers we gain a new appreciation and understanding of the importance of play, not only in terms of how children learn, but also in showing us as educators how we can lay the foundations for lifelong physical activity. The concept of physical literacy has been recognised and understood throughout history by different communities across the globe. Today, as governments grapple with the multiple challenges of urban life in the 21st century, we can learn from our forebears how to put play at the centre of children’s learning in order to build a more enduring physically active society. This book examines contemporary pedagogical approaches, such as constraints-led teaching, nonlinear pedagogy and the athletic skills model, which are underpinned by the theoretical framework of Ecological Dynamics. It is suggested that through careful design, these models, aimed at children, as well as young athletes, can (i) encourage play and facilitate physical activity and motor learning in children of different ages, providing them with the foundational skills needed for leading active lives; and (ii), develop young athletes in elite sports programmes in an ethical, enriching and supportive manner. Through this text, scientists, academics and practitioners in the sub-disciplines of motor learning and motor development, physical education, sports pedagogy and physical activity and exercise domains will better understand how to design programmes that encourage play and thereby develop the movement skills, self-regulating capacities, motivation and proficiency of people, so that they can move skilfully, effectively and efficiently while negotiating changes throughout the human lifespan.
Davis Advantage for Pediatric Nursing: Critical Components of Nursing Care
by Kathryn Rudd Diane KociskoDavis Advantage for Pediatric Nursing combines an easy-to-read textbook with an innovative online program to create an immersive learning experience for students and an integrated solution for instructors, whether you’re teaching traditionally or virtually. <p><p> An access code inside new, printed textbooks unlocks an eBook, as well as access to Davis Advantage. Or choose the all-digital Instant Access option, which includes the eBook and immediate access to Davis Advantage. <p><p> The TEXTBOOK <p> An easy-to-read, need-to-know approach, with student-friendly features focuses on delivering the critical content to today’s learners. A visually engaging design that features bulleted content, flow charts, diagrams, and tables make it easy to understand. <p> <p> ONLINE (Davis Advantage) <p> Using a unique and proven approach across a Learn-Apply-Assess continuum, Davis Advantage engages students to help them make the connections to key topics. Whether teaching in-person or online, this complete, integrated solution aligns seamlessly with the textbook and equips instructors with actionable analytics to track students’ progress, remediate where needed, and facilitate an active learning environment. <p> <p> LEARN—Personalized Learning <p> The foundation of the Davis Advantage platform, Personalized Learning, immerses students in an online learning experience tailored to their needs. Students are assessed on their comprehension of key topics from the text, and then are guided through animated mini-lecture videos and dynamic activities to reinforce learning and bring concepts to life. <p> <p> APPLY—Clinical Judgment <p> Clinical Judgment develops students’ critical thinking and clinical reasoning, helping them to build the clinical judgment skills they need to practice safe and effective nursing care and to prepare for the Next Generation NCLEX® with confidence. Progressive case studies featuring real-life, complex clinical situations challenge students to apply knowledge, make informed decisions, and evaluate outcomes. <p> <p> ASSESS—Quizzing <p> Quizzing uses NCLEX®-style questions for assessment and remediation. Its adaptive, question-based format provides the additional practice students need to test their knowledge, master course content, and perform well on course and board exams. PLUS! Brand-new standalone questions that mimic the format of the Next Generation NCLEX® further prepare students for certification and practice.
Doctor Who: Twelve stories of the villains from Doctor Who (Doctor Who)
by Dave RuddenTwelve extraordinary Doctor Who stories, each featuring a monstrous villain from the Doctor Who world.On every planet that has existed or will exist, there is a winter . . .Many of the peoples of Old Earth celebrated a winter festival. A time to huddle together against the cold; a time to celebrate being half-way out of the dark.But shadows are everywhere, and there are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things, lurking in the cold between the stars.Here are twelve stories - one for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas - to remind you that to come out of the darkness we need to go into it in the first place.We are not alone. We are not safe. And, whatever you do: don't blink.Written by popular children's author, and lifelong Doctor Who fan, Dave Rudden.
The Endless King (Knights of the Borrowed Dark)
by Dave RuddenThe final book in the award-winning Knights of the Borrowed Dark trilogy, perfect for fans of Skulduggery Pleasant.'You have no idea what real war is . . . but I'm afraid you're going to find out.'There's nothing like an apocalypse to kick off the school year.Denizen Hardwick has travelled to Daybreak, the ancestral home of the Order of the Borrowed Dark, to continue his training as a knight. But lessons have barely begun before an unexpected arrival appears with news that throws the fortress into uproar.The Endless King has fallen, his dark realm rising in a brutal civil war. When the conflict strikes closer to home, Denizen and his friends face their greatest challenge yet. For if Daybreak falls, so does the world . . .'Action-packed, atmospheric and powerfully imagined' - Sunday Times
The Wintertime Paradox: Festive Stories from the World of Doctor Who (Doctor Who)
by Dave RuddenTwelve incredible Doctor Who stories for the long winter nights featuring an exclusive extra story in the Time Lord Victorious arc!Christmas can mean anything . . .For Missy, it's solving murders in 1909.For a little girl in Dublin, it's Plasmavores knocking at the door.For Davros, it's a summons from the Doctor, who needs the mad inventor's help.The perfect collection for the bleakest - and sometimes brightest - time of the year, these are the tales for when you're halfway out of the dark . . .The perfect collection for the bleakest - and sometimes brightest - time of the year, these are the tales for when you're halfway out of the dark . . . Written by popular children's author, and lifelong Doctor Who fan, Dave Rudden, author of Twelve Angels Weeping. 'The perfect balance between tenderness and humour and terror and imagination - like the show at its very, very best' - Guardian 'The comforting yet thrilling vibe of a Doctor Who Christmas special TIMES TWELVE' - Deirdre Sullivan 'A fascinating tale' - Screenrant
A Systemic Approach to Behavioral Healthcare Integration: Context Matters (Fundamentals of Clinical Practice With Couples and Families Series)
by Dr. Nancy Breen Ruddy PhD Dr. Susan H. McDanielThis book provides clinicians, consultants, and healthcare administrators with a roadmap to establishing a systemic, patient-centered, family-oriented behavioral health service that is integrated into a healthcare setting. Healthcare that goes beyond biomedical issues to address our whole biopsychosocial selves, produces better outcomes for patients and families. Integrating behavioral health into medical settings requires an understanding of the interplay of multiple systemic layers in American healthcare. The existing literature on integration largely fails to address the "big picture" of integrated services and systems, including operations, clinical processes, and financial sustainability elements.A Systemic Approach to Behavioral Healthcare Integration summarizes the literature on the impact of integrating behavioral health care into medical settings, on the role of families in health maintenance and chronic disease management, and on team science and applying family systems theory/relational science to the teams that are now essential to healthcare.
Brilliant Bea: A Story for Kids With Dyslexia and Learning Differences
by Shaina Rudolph Mary VukadinovichAn endearing and empowering story that demonstrates that a learning difference like dyslexia doesn&’t define who you are. Despite her struggles with reading and writing, Beatrice is a natural and brilliant storyteller. With the help of a kind-hearted teacher, Beatrice uses an old-fashioned tape recorder so she can speak her words and then play them back, as a technique for learning in whole new way. With her new approach, Beatrice is able to show her classmates who she really has been all along. This book is set in EasyReading, a dyslexia-friendly font.
Dr. Josef's Little Beauty
by Zyta RudzkaA Holocaust story as fascinating and compelling as it is terrifying and puzzling—a book about aging and war crimes, pain and pride.In the middle of summer, omnipresent heat radiates as a group of elderly people are remembering their youth. The story focuses on two sisters, Leokadia and Helena, who live together in a retirement home not far from Warsaw. These are not ordinary stories they are sharing because both of them were imprisoned as children in Auschwitz during World War II. At the center is Helena, who at the age of 12 was saved from extermination by the notorious doctor Josef Mengele, the real-life Nazi officer and physician who was known as the &“angel of death&” for the experiments he conducted on prisoners, including twins and siblings.This is a story both provocative and disturbing about the fear that lingers in victims. Was the sisters&’ relationship with the executioner a desperate attempt to save their lives, or perhaps they harbor a hideous pride and sense of superiority over other prisoners? Rudzka&’s extraordinary writing turns unsettling questions about memory and survival into art.
Kant on Pleasure and Judgment: A Developmental and Interpretive Account
by null Alexander RuegerWere there interactions between the development of Kant's aesthetics and the development of his moral philosophy? How did Kant view pleasure and displeasure and what role did they play in the formation of his system of the faculties? In this book, Alexander Rueger situates Kant's account of pleasure and displeasure in its eighteenth-century context, with special attention to Leibniz, Wolff, Crusius, and Mendelssohn. He traces the development of Kant's views on pleasure from the 1770s to his Critique of Aesthetic Judgment in 1790, and shows that throughout, Kant understood pleasure as the satisfaction of faculty interests. The significance of this theory for the completion of Kant's critical system in the third Critique is discussed in detail. Rueger's study illuminates both the role of pleasure and displeasure in Kant's thought, and their important connections to the power of judgment.
The History of Alexander
by Quintus Curtius RufusAlexander the Great (356-323 BC), who led the Macedonian army to victory in Egypt, Syria, Persia and India, was perhaps the most successful conqueror the world has ever seen. Yet although no other individual has attracted so much speculation across the centuries, Alexander himself remains an enigma. Curtius' History offers a great deal of information unobtainable from other sources of the time. A compelling narrative of a turbulent era, the work recounts events on a heroic scale, detailing court intrigue, stirring speeches and brutal battles - among them, those of Macedonia's great war with Persia, which was to culminate in Alexander's final triumph over King Darius and the defeat of an ancient and mighty empire. It also provides by far the most plausible and haunting portrait of Alexander we possess: a brilliantly realized image of a man ruined by constant good fortune in his youth.
A Good African Story: How a Small Company Built a Global Coffee Brand
by Andrew RugasiraSince it was founded in 2003, Good African Coffee has helped thousands of farmers earn a decent living, send their children to school and escape a spiral of debt and dependence. Africa has received over $1 trillion in aid over the last fifty years and yet despite these huge inflows, the continent remains mired in poverty, disease and systemic corruption. In A Good African Story, as Andrew Rugasira recounts the very personal story of his company and the challenges that he has faced – and overcome – as an African entrepreneur, he provides a tantalising glimpse of what Africa could be, and argues that trade has achieved what years of aid have failed to deliver.This is a book about Africa taking its destiny in its own hands, and dictating the terms of its future.
Risk It All (Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters #2)
by Katie RuggleFull of humor and danger, romance and intrigue, Risk it All is for fans of:Romantic suspense with a quirky small town feelMountain men wrapped in flannelA slow burn that steadily turns up the heatAnd complete opposites forced to rely on each other as they trek through the RockiesCara Pax never wanted to be a bounty hunter. She's happy to leave chasing criminals and tackling skips to her sisters. But if she wants her dreams of escaping the family business and becoming a kindergarten teacher to come true, she's got one last job to finish… Only problem is, she doesn't think her bounty is guilty.Henry Kavenski is a man with innocence to prove. When he realizes that Cara believes him, he'll do anything to keep her out of harm's way. Escaping criminals and dodging cops might not be the best time to fall in love, but Henry and Cara won't give up, not when there's a chance at a new life ahead—if they can survive the fall.What Your Favorites Are Saying:"I love Ruggle's characters. They're sharply drawn, and vividly alive. I'm happy when they find each other. These are wonderful escapist books."—CHARLAINE HARRIS, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of the Sookie Stackhouse series"Sexy and suspenseful, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough."—JULIE ANN WALKER, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, for Hold Your Breath"Chills and thrills and a sexy slow-burning romance from a terrific new voice."—D.D. AYRES, author of the K-9 Rescue series, for Hold Your Breath
The End Of Globalization
by Alan RugmanProfessor Alan Rugman is one of the world's leading academics in the field of international business and strategy. In The End of Globalization he argues that we are currently witnessing the end of globalization and draws on new research and analysis to argue that globalization never really happened anyway. Like Bartlett and Ghoshal's Managing Across Borders, this book is aimed at the market of practitioners and policy-makers, (not academics and theoreticians) showing them what the current state of the global economy means for them. Global business is dominated by the 500 largest multinational enterprises (MNEs) out of a total of 30,000 MNEs altogether. The 500 MNEs that are the engines of international business 'think regional and act local'. Using analysis drawn from world-leading companies, Professor Rugman looks in detail at the managerial implications of the end of globalization, including in-depth discussion of corporate strategies, organizational structures, and analytical methods.
100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater
by Sarah Ruhl100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write is an incisive, idiosyncratic collection on life and theater from major American playwright Sarah Ruhl. This is a book in which chimpanzees, Chekhov, and child care are equally at home. A vibrant, provocative examination of the possibilities of the theater, it is also a map to a very particular artistic sensibility, and an unexpected guide for anyone who has chosen an artist's life. Sarah Ruhl is a mother of three and one of America's best-known playwrights. She has written a stunningly original book of essays whose concerns range from the most minimal and personal subjects to the most encompassing matters of art and culture. The titles themselves speak to the volume's uniqueness: "On lice," "On sleeping in the theater," "On motherhood and stools (the furniture kind)," "Greek masks and Bell's palsy."
Urban Soundscapes: A Guide to Listening for Landscape Architecture and Urban Design
by Usue Ruiz AranaSound and listening are intrinsically linked to how we experience and engage with places and communities. This guide puts forward a new conceptual framework of embodied affectivity that emphasises listening in urban research and design and advances new ways of knowing and making. The guide invites landscape architects and urban designers to become soundscape architects and offers practical advice on sound and listening applicable to each stage of a design project: from reading the environment to intervening on it.Urban Soundscapes foregrounds listening as an affective mediator between subjects and multispecies environments, and a vehicle to think and conceptualise environmental research and design beyond prevailing visual and human-centred modes. The guide expands landscape architects’ and urban designers’ tools and skills to assess existing soundscapes, predict how those soundscapes will be altered through their designs, consider sound as a creative and active part of the design process and envisage how users might perceive and be affected by those soundscapes as they evolve in time. The volume sits in the interface of research and practice and interweaves theoretical, methodological and creative contributions from acoustic ecology, ecoacoustics, bioacoustics and sound art. Each of the design stages is illustrated through project examples that demonstrate the many advantages of incorporating attentive listening and sound into Landscape Architecture and Urban Design Practice. This book shows how incorporating listening and sounding as part of the design process promotes slow and subtle ways of practice, adds social and ecological value through the reduction of noise pollution and by monitoring the health of habitats, and enables the design of soundscapes that complement the character and design intent of a scheme and elicit joy and wonder.The book will be of interest to practitioners and academics in landscape architecture, and other design and spatial fields such as urban design, architecture, geography and engineering, who play a primary role in the composition of the soundscape.
How Do We Learn?: A Scientific Approach to Learning and Teaching (Evidence-Based Education)
by Héctor Ruiz MartínGo beyond personal experience and discover scientific principles that will elevate your teaching The international bestseller How Do We Learn? decodes years of cognitive science research into actionable strategies for K-12 teachers, curricula designers, and administrators. You'll discover how classic and emerging findings can transform pedagogy by pointing at practices that take advantage of the innate structures of the human brain. Written in an easy-to-understand style, this book delves into the cognitive mechanisms that govern learning and memory. You'll also discover the socioemotional factors that influence students' motivation and performance. Researchers have investigated key teaching methods such as feedback and evaluation to identify how school environments influence self-motivation to learn. In this book, Héctor Ruiz Martín unites scientific principles with personal engagement, helping teachers ensure that students can thrive in the classroom and beyond. Learn how students learn so you can help them achieve academic success Get practical tips and strategies for aligning your teaching with scientific evidence Gain fascinating insights into the human mind and discover how to promote student achievement through socioemotional engagement Help students feel motivated and achieve at their best How Do We Learn? offers rigorous scientific insights—explained in accessible terms and translated into actionable steps that K-12 teachers in all disciplines can put into practice right away.
Feelings in Sport: Theory, Research, and Practical Implications for Performance and Well-being (Routledge Psychology of Sport, Exercise and Physical Activity)
by Montse Ruiz Claudio RobazzaFeeling states, including emotional experiences, are pervasive to human functioning. Feeling states deeply influence the individual’s effort, attention, decision making, memory, behavioural responses, and interpersonal interactions. The sporting environment offers an ideal setting for the development of research questions and applied interventions to improve the well-being and well-functioning of the people involved. This ground-breaking book is the first to offer cutting-edge knowledge about contemporary theoretical, methodological, and applied issues with the contributions of leading researchers and practitioners in the field. Feeling states in sports are comprehensively covered by adopting an international and multi-disciplinary perspective. Part I covers most relevant conceptual frameworks, including emotion-centred and action-centred approaches, challenge and threat evaluations, an evolutionary approach to emotions, and the role of passion in the experience of emotion. Part II focuses on interpersonal aspects related to emotions and regulation, encompassing social and interpersonal emotion influence and regulation, social identity and group-based emotions, and performance experiences in teams. Part III presents applied indications surrounding emotional intelligence training, and emotional regulation strategies including imagery, self-talk, the use of music, mindfulness, motor skills execution under pressure, self-regulation in endurance sports, and the use of technology. Finally, Part IV examines issues related to athlete well-being, including the role of emotions in sport injury, emotional eating, and mental recovery. Feelings in Sport: Theory, Research, and Practical Implications for Performance and Well-being is an essential source for sport psychology practitioners, researchers, sports coaches, undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Human-Computer Interaction: 9th Iberoamerican Workshop, HCI-COLLAB 2023, Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 13–15, 2023, Revised Selected Papers (Communications in Computer and Information Science #1877)
by Pablo H. Ruiz Vanessa Agredo-Delgado Alicia MonThis book constitutes the referred proceedings of the 9th Iberoamerican Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction, HCI-COLLAB 2023, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during September 13–15, 2023. The 23 full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 84 submissions. They cover a variety of topics related to HCI such as: Emotional Interfaces, Usability, Video Games and Gamification, Computational Thinking, Internet of Things (IoT), Software Engineering, ICT in Education, Augmented and Mixed Virtual Reality for Education, Emotional Interfaces, Adaptive Instructional Systems, Accessibility, Artificial Intelligence in HCI, Industry 4. 0 and HCI, Infotainment Systems, Intelligent Systems, Collaborative Work and Learning, Cognition, and Interaction, among others.
Blockchains: A Handbook on Fundamentals, Platforms and Applications (Advances in Information Security #105)
by Sushmita Ruj Salil S. Kanhere Mauro ContiThis handbook is a selection of foundational aspects, security analysis, platforms, and applications of blockchains that consists of four parts. The first part introduces the basic building blocks such as distributed computing and cryptography. Consensus algorithms that form the basic backbone of blockchain protocols are presented. Various cryptographic tools like hash functions, digital signatures and commitment schemes are also introduced. Advanced cryptographic techniques such as zero knowledge protocols, secret sharing, verifiable random functions that are used for privacy-preserving and secure design are discussed. The second part of this handbook consists of popular blockchain designs and platforms. Architecture of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Tendermint and Algorand have been presented. Various important issues like scalability and security are discussed in the third part. Security design challenges, security vulnerabilities and their analysis are discussed. The final part of this handbook discusses various applications of blockchains. These include supply-chain, identity and credential management, Internet of Things (IoT), data-sharing, e-voting, e-governance, e-health, smart cities, and Industry 4.0. Research challenges and directions of future work are included in this handbook.This comprehensive reference targets students and researchers, who are starting to explore blockchain. Professionals working in blockchain security and applications will find this handbook to be a valuable reference.
In the Still of the Night: The Strange Death of Ronda Reynolds and Her Mother's Unceasing Quest for the Truth
by Ann RuleFrom true crime legend Ann Rule comes this riveting story of a young woman whose life ended too soon—and a determined mother&’s eleven-year crusade to clear her daughter&’s name. It was nine days before Christmas 1998, and thirty-two-year-old Ronda Reynolds was getting ready to travel from Seattle to Spokane to visit her mother and brother and grandmother before the holidays. Ronda&’s second marriage was dissolving after less than a year, her career as a pioneering female Washington State Trooper had ended, but she was optimistic about starting over again. "I&’m actually looking forward to getting on with my life," she told her mother earlier the night before. "I just need a few days with you guys." Barb Thompson, Ronda&’s mother, who had met her daughter&’s second husband only once before, was just happy that Ronda was coming home. At 6:20 that morning, Ron Reynolds called 911 and told the dispatcher his wife was dead. She had committed suicide, he said, although he hadn&’t heard the gunshot and he didn&’t know if she had a pulse. EMTs arrived, detectives arrived, the coroner&’s deputy arrived, and a postmortem was conducted. Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson, who neither visited the death scene nor attended the autopsy, declared the manner of Ronda&’s death as "undetermined." Over the next eleven years, Coroner Wilson would change that manner of death from "undetermined" to "suicide," back to "undetermined"—and then back to "suicide" again. But Barb Thompson never for one moment believed her daughter committed suicide. Neither did Detective Jerry Berry or ballistics expert Marty Hayes or attorney Royce Ferguson or dozens of Ronda&’s friends. For eleven grueling years, through the ups and downs of the legal system and its endless delays, these people and others helped Barb Thompson fight to strike that painful word from her daughter&’s death certificate. On November 9, 2009, a precedent-setting hearing was held to determine whether Coroner Wilson&’s office had been derelict in its duty in investigating the death of Ronda Reynolds. Veteran true-crime writer Ann Rule was present at that hearing, hoping to unbraid the tangled strands of conflicting statements and mishandled evidence and present all sides of this haunting case and to determine, perhaps, what happened to Ronda Reynolds, in the chill still of that tragic December night.
Last Dance, Last Chance: And Other True Cases (Ann Rule's Crime Files #8)
by Ann Rule&“America&’s best true-crime writer&” (Kirkus Reviews) presents an all-new collection of crime stories drawn from her private files and featuring the riveting case of a fraudulent doctor whose lifelong deceptions had deadly consequences. The inspiration behind the upcoming Lifetime movie event Desperate Hours.Dr. Anthony Pignataro was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher whose flashy red Lamborghini and flamboyant lifestyle in western New York State suggested a highly successful career. But appearances can be deceiving—and, for the doctor&’s wife, very nearly deadly. Now, the motivations of the classic sociopath are plumbed with chilling accuracy by Ann Rule. Along with other shocking true cases, this worldwide headline-making case will have you turning pages in disbelief that a trusted medical professional could sink to the depths of greed, manipulation, and self-aggrandizement where even slow, deliberate murder is not seen for what it truly is: pure evil.
Practice to Deceive
by Ann RuleThis New York Times bestseller—from &“America&’s best true-crime writer&” (Kirkus Reviews) and the author of The Stranger Beside Me—is a shocking tale of greed, sex, scandal, and murder on an isolated and eerie island in the Pacific Northwest. The basis for the Lifetime movie event Circle of Deception. With more than 50 million copies of her books in print—from her chilling personal account of knowing Ted Bundy to sixteen collections in her #1 bestselling Crime Files series—Ann Rule is a legendary true crime writer. Here, in Practice to Deceive, Rule unravels a shattering case of Christmastime murder off the coast of Washington State—presented with the clarity, authority, and emotional depth that Rule&’s readers expect. Nestled in Puget Sound, Whidbey Island is a gem of the Pacific Northwest. Accessible only by ferry, it is known for its artistic communities and stunning natural beauty. Life there is low-key, and the island&’s year-round residents tend to know one another&’s business. But when the blood-drenched body of Russel Douglas was discovered the day after Christmas in his SUV in a hidden driveway near Whidbey&’s most exclusive mansion—a single bullet between his eyes—the whole island was shocked. At first, police suspected suicide, tragically common at the height of the holiday season. But when they found no gun in or near the SUV, Russel&’s manner of death became homicide. Brenna Douglas, Russel&’s estranged and soon-to-be-ex wife, allowed him to come home for a Christmas visit with their children. The couple owned the popular Just B&’s salon. Brenna&’s good friend Peggy Sue Thomas worked there, and Brenna complained often to her that Russel was physically and emotionally abusive. Peggy Sue&’s own life has been one of extremes. Married three times, hers is a rags-to-riches-and-back-again tale in which she&’s played many roles, from aircraft mechanic to &“drop-dead gorgeous&” beauty queen as a former Ms. Washington. But in 2003, her love affair with married guitarist Jim Huden led the two Whidbey Island natives to pursue their ultimate dreams of wealth and privilege—even at the expense of human life. Unravel the tangled web woven by Russel Douglas&’s murder in Practice to Deceive, a heart pounding true-crime tour de force.
The Leaves
by Jacqueline RuleFaith and Evelyn are close friends, neighbours, and single mothers ofLuke and of Mitch – and both bear the scars of the trauma of colonisationand the Stolen Generations. When Faith dies unexpectedly, a chain ofevents unfolds that will forever alter the lives of those left behind.As Luke faces upheaval and is propelled into the volatility of the fostersystem, Evelyn desperately tries to save him from the unending spiralof cruelty, poverty and disconnection from kin into which he descends,while the spectre of incarceration looms.The Leaves is a bittersweet meditation on motherhood and loss, onthe power of female friendship and the role of the state in perpetuatingviolence.Through Luke' s journey and Evelyn' s own pursuit of justice, The Leavesraises larger questions about the brutality and futility of Australia' s youthdetention system, the entrenchment of disadvantage, and the failure toacknowledge the ongoing effects of historical crimes committed againstIndigenous people.Will there be justice for Luke? Or will he be another invisible casualtyof a broken system?