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Knee-Deep in Wonder: A Novel
by April ReynoldsA dazzling first novel about four generations of fear and longing in the deep South"Who're your people, girl?" It's the song of the South, the big question, persistent and unforgiving. Helene Strickland, daughter of Lafayette County, Arkansas, and lately of the Northeast, doesn't have an answer. Instead, she has memories riddled with half-truths, stories heard in fits and starts, a family history from a family that doesn't know its own past. In the steamy August of 1976, Helene returns home for her aunt's funeral determined to learn the truth, but her probing yields more questions than answers: Why did her grandmother, Liberty, a cotton picker turned saloon owner, have no name until she was fourteen? Why does Queen Ester, Helene's mother, dress like a child, talk to no one, and refuse to see her own daughter? And who was Chess, a man with a terror of water, a man like a honey trap who drew the women and then destroyed them? In a mesmerizing narrative, April Reynolds seamlessly weaves past and present, intricate flashbacks and interlaced stories to produce an epic novel of one family maimed by the deepest wounds of history. Rich with legend, poetry, and historic events, Knee-Deep in Wonder captures the complex humanity of black Southern life.
Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
by Diane FanningDiane Fanning's Through The Window is more than an investigation into a crime spree that stunned a nation. It's an utterly terrifying plunge into the unfathomable dark mind of a serial killer, and the heart-wrenching story of the brave child who finally brought him to justice. Ten-year-old Krystal Surles watched in horror as her best friend was murdered at the hands of an intruder.Then with cold-blooded precision he brought a twelve-inch boning knife to Krystal's throat. With a single, violent slash, he severed her windpipe and left her for dead. Miraculously, she survived and would lead authorities to the arrest of 35-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells, a former truck driver, carnival worker, and cross-country drifter...He aspired to become "The Worst Serial Killer of all Time."With no apparent motive and no common pattern to his inconceivable bloodshed, the elusive Sells had carved his way across the country for two decades slaughtering women, men, transients, entire families, teenagers, and even infants with ghoulish abandon.
Killing Time: A Mystery (Natalie Price Mysteries)
by Elise TitlePeppered with the gritty details of prison life, Title delivers a gripping, atmospheric story bursting with authenticity. All in all, Killing Time is an ambitious beginning to what promises to be an outstanding new crime fiction series.Natalie Price has a tough job. A superintendent in the Massachussetts prison system, she rules over inmates' lives just before they get released. She's had to fight hard to be taken seriously in this harsh world, a world that is mostly male--on both sides of the bars. But she believes in what she's doing, and she's good at it. Now, however, she gets the biggest challenge of her career when a good friend, a college professor who was teaching one of Natalie's charges, is brutally murdered. Natalie had gone out on a limb to give this inmate, a convicted rapist named Dean Walsh, this opportunity, and it looks like Dean certainly made the most of it: He's the prime suspect. But he's not the only one, and Natalie's job--maybe even her life--rides on the investigation.
Night of Madness (The Legends of Ethshar)
by Lawrence Watt-EvansLawrence Watt-Evans's tales of the magical land of Ethshar of the Spices had a large and devoted following in the late eighties and early nineties. Now, after nearly ten years, he brings us a new tale of mystery, magic, and madness.Warlockry has been rare in Ethshar . . . until The Night of Madness, when a mysterious object falls from the heavens, sending out a wave of magic in the form of a dream. All who have the dream awaken in panic. But some of them also awaken to the power or Warlockry.Throughout the land these newly made warlocks wreak havoc; looting and rioting, petty personal revenge, and uncontrollable madness run rampant. Worse, people are hearing a mysterious, irresistible call from which they never return.Into this chaos steps the power-hungry Lord Faran, who seeks to use his new warlock powers to overthrow the government and take possession of the throne.Who will dare to oppose him? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Doctor Dines in Prague (Dr. Fenimore Mysteries)
by Robin HathawayIn Robin Hathaway's The Doctor Dines in Prague, Dr. Fenimore has a surprised communication from a cousin he doesn't know, who lives in Prague, and she indicates that she and her family are having serious problems and needs help from him. Off he goes to Prague to help her in whatever way he can, and decides to get his relatives to the U.S. But it is not simple, and Fenimore pulls in his lover, his secretary, and the street urchin turned teenaged helper, bringing them all to the beautiful old city, where they become tangled with a psychopath who is planning to overthrow the government and declare himself ruler of the country, an agenda that involves a talented maker of puppets, the rescue of a young child, and murder.
Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age
by Stephen J. Nichols and Eric T. BrandtBelief in the Bible as God's authoritative revelation to humanity forms the bedrock of the Christian faith, laying the groundwork for nearly everything in the practice of theology. For the last 150 years or so, this doctrine has been put under the microscope of the modern age, with focused attention-and criticism-falling on three main subject areas: the authority of Scripture, the sufficiency of Scripture, and the interpretation of Scripture. <P> Ancient Word, Changing Worlds tells the story of these developments in the doctrine of Scripture in the modern age, combining in one volume both narrative chapters and chapters devoted to primary source materials. This new genre of historical theology will appeal to general readers, who will be drawn in by the book's prose style, and students, who will benefit from features like timelines, charts, explanations of key terms, and introductions and explanatory notes for the primary source documents.
The Branch and the Scaffold: A Novel of Judge Parker
by Loren D. EstlemanWhen Judge Isaac Parker first arrived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the town had thirty saloons and one bank. Inheriting a corrupt court and a lawless territory roughly the size of Great Britain, he immediately put the residents on notice by publicly hanging six convicted felons at one time. For the next two decades, his stern and implacable justice brought law and order to the West . . . and made him plenty of enemies.As the sole law on the untamed frontier, Parker tried civil and criminal cases throughout the Western District of Arkansas and the Indian Nations. Only God and the president had the power to challenge Parker. His severe judgments scandalized Washington and the Eastern press, and took an onerous toll on his private life, but the "Hanging Judge of the Border" never flinched from his duty. Over the years, he and his marshals, dubbed "Parker's Men," ran up against some of the most colorful and dangerous outlaws the West had to offer, including the notorious Dalton Gang; Belle Star, the Bandit Queen; the murderous Cherokee Bill; and Ned Christie.The Branch and the Scaffold is a fascinating depiction of Judge Parker's life and times, as told by Loren D. Estleman, a five-time winner of the Spur Award.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Omega Project
by Steve AltenA riveting thriller of catastrophe and one man's heroic effort to save the Earth, from the best selling author of the Meg seriesOn the brink of a disaster that could end all human life on earth, tech genius Robert Eisenbraun joins a team of scientists in Antarctica on a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa to mine a rare ore that would provide for Earth's long-term energy needs. But as he and the rest of the team train under the ice shelf in preparation for the long journey, trouble erupts, and before they embark Eisenbraun is the odd man out, put into cold sleep against his will…. When Robert wakes, he finds the ship deserted and not functional. He escapes to the surface of an Earth terribly changed. The plan has gone horribly wrong, but as he adapts to a hostile environment, he realizes that there is still a way to accomplish what his mission had set out to achieve. But he also discovers that he faces a new adversary of the most unlikely sort. For now, his own survival and that of the woman whose love has sustained him in his darkest hours depend on the defeat of a technological colossus partly of his own making. Confronting a foe that knows him almost as well as he knows himself, he faces the prospect of depending on resources that he has reason to believe will be available on one particular night of a full moon, a night foretold by a mysterious unseen ally to be a pivotal moment for the fate of the earth. The game has changed, and Earth's future depends on him and him alone. The Omega Project is yet another edge-of-your-seat thriller by bestselling author, Steve Alten, leaving readers looking for more.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer
by Priscilla ShirerYou have an enemy . . . and he’s dead set on destroying all you hold dear and keeping you from experiencing abundant life in Christ. What’s more, his approach to disrupting your life and discrediting your faith isn’t general or generic, not a one-size-fits-all. It’s specific. Personalized. Targeted. <P> So this book is your chance to strike back. With prayer. With a weapon that really works. Each chapter will guide you in crafting prayer strategies that hit the enemy where it hurts, letting him know you’re on to him and that you won’t back down. Because with every new strategy you build, you’re turning the fiercest battles of life into precise strikes against him and his handiwork, each one infused with the power of God’s Spirit. <P> Fervent is a hands-on, knees-down, don't-give-up action guide to practical, purposeful praying.
Not Quite Kosher: An Abe Lieberman Mystery (Abe Lieberman)
by Stuart M. KaminskyAn Abe Lieberman mysteryAbe Lieberman is a strong, sympathetic character, an Everyman whose love for his family is only matched by his quiet, zealous commitment to justice. "A figure out of Talmudic lore-endearing, wise in his crotchets, weary with his wisdom," says The Washington Post. He loves what he does, but it takes its toll as his commitment to what is right is sorely tested every day on the mean streets of Chicago. As a moral man, he is sometimes faced with some uncomfortable ethical choices in order to see that justice-rather than the letter of the law-is meted out. And in Not Quite Kosher, the latest Abe Lieberman mystery by veteran Edgar Award-winning Stuart Kaminsky, our hangdog sleuth is up to his eyeballs in tsurris, the kind of trouble that will drive a man to madness. From tracking a pair of low-rent thieves who stumble into a heist way over their heads to finding out what happened to a man who predicted his own death in a bizarre twist of fate, not to mention planning for a grandson's bar mitzvah that threatens to send him to the poorhouse, Lieberman will do much to find a way to make everything right, even if it takes years off his life.And his Irish partner, Bill Hanrahn, the Priest to Lieberman's Rabbi, is in trouble of his own making. For the woman he loves is the object of affection of one of the kingpins of the Asian crime syndicate in Chicago and the notion of this woman marrying anyone from a different culture is anathema. How far will he go to win the woman he loves? And at what cost?Just another day in the lives of a pair of Chicago's most amiably odd detective team . . . At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell, 1599–1649
by Derek WilsonFor all the myth surrounding Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I, there is no detailed account of any meeting between them. Yet they were almost exact contemporaries, embodying virtually everything for which politicians, bishops, preachers and generals contended. The paths of these two men gradually converged until a frosty morning in 1649, when the executioner's axe ended one man's life and raised the other to the brink of absolute power in England. In his moving history The King and the Gentleman, Derek Wilson brings to life the politics and the personalities that once shook an empire."Wilson does an admirable job of covering the complex religious and political schism that rocked England and Scotland, and summarizes for general readers the wealth of extant material on both men’s lives." - Kirkus Reviews
Godless Country: A Mystery (Guthrie and Vasquez Mysteries)
by Alaric HuntClayton Guthrie is a private fixer for the aristocracy of New York City. His latest job is to protect a Manhattan heiress from a dangerous stalker. He hires retired bodyguard Abraham Swabe to protect her while he runs a trap operation assisted by his young operative, Rachel Vasquez, who juggles her new responsibilities while suffering from the shaky aftereffects of a shootout.Guthrie and Vasquez pursue the stalker across the city, from watching a quiet townhouse on the Upper East Side, to staking out New York University around Tompkins Square, and even crawling through the grimy industrial guts of Brooklyn. Searching for the stalker's hideout, they learn the identity of one of his previous victims. She was murdered, but the killer is still at large.Dark, riveting and hardboiled, Hunt's sequel to Cuts Through Bone is a thrilling mystery, sure to cement his reputation as one of crime fiction's most promising new authors.
Skipjack: The Story of America's Last Sailing Oystermen
by Christopher WhiteIn Skipjack, Christopher White spends a pivotal year with three memorable captains as they battle man and nature to control the fate of their island villages and oyster fleet. Through these lively characters, White paints a vivid picture of life on a skip - jack, a wooden oystering sailboat as they dredge for oysters—a favorite staple of iconic American seafood cuisine for over a hundred years. But this last vestige of American sailing culture is rapidly dying. State officials have mismanaged the waters, putting sport above business, and modernization above tradition. These captains must set aside their rivalry to fight for their very livelihood. With so many obstacles, it is not certain the fleet will survive the season. Hinging on its success, the viability of the nation's premiere estuary and the survival of a classic American town hang dangerously in the balance.
A Disappearance in Damascus: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War
by Deborah CampbellWinner of the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for NonfictionWinner of the Freedom to Read AwardWinner of the Hubert Evans PrizeIn the midst of an unfolding international crisis, renowned journalist Deborah Campbell finds herself swept up in the mysterious disappearance of Ahlam, her guide and friend. Campbell’s frank, personal account of a journey through fear and the triumph of friendship and courage is as riveting as it is illuminating.The story begins in 2007, when Deborah Campbell travels undercover to Damascus to report on the exodus of Iraqis into Syria, following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. There she meets and hires Ahlam, a refugee working as a “fixer”—providing Western media with trustworthy information and contacts to help get the news out. Ahlam has fled her home in Iraq after being kidnapped while running a humanitarian center. She supports her husband and two children while working to set up a makeshift school for displaced girls. Strong and charismatic, she has become an unofficial leader of the refugee community.Campbell is inspired by Ahlam’s determination to create something good amid so much suffering, and the two women become close friends. But one morning, Ahlam is seized from her home in front of Campbell’s eyes. Haunted by the prospect that their work together has led to her friend’s arrest, Campbell spends the months that follow desperately trying to find Ahlam—all the while fearing she could be next.The compelling story of two women caught up in the shadowy politics behind today’s most searing conflict, A Disappearance in Damascus reminds us of the courage of those who risk their lives to bring us the world’s news.
In the Wind
by Barbara FisterAnni Koskinen is out of a job. After ten years in the Chicago Police Department, her moral compass led her across the thin blue line to testify against a fellow cop – and, in the aftermath, she lost the only career she ever wanted.As she is putting a new life together, a gentle church worker appears on her doorstep and asks for a ride out of town. It's not until the FBI gets involved that Anni realizes she has helped a fugitive escape. And not just any fugitive.It's hard to grasp that Rosa Saenz, a popular figure in her largely Latino parish, was once involved with a radical faction of the American Indian Movement. It's even harder to believe that Rosa was responsible for the murder of an FBI agent in 1972. But even a close friend in the Bureau urges Anni to work with Rosa's defense team to find out what happened all those years ago. Because it soon becomes clear that it's more important to the authorities to find Rosa guilty than to find the truth.Caught in the vortex of a no-holds-barred federal investigation, angry cops who believe she's once again working for the wrong side, and a dangerous group of white supremacists bent on establishing their own version of history, Anni's investigation into crimes of the past throws her in the path of a clear and present danger. And this time, she stands to lose much more than her job.Drawing on parallels between counterintelligence practices of the Vietnam War era and today's hostile climate for civil liberties, In the Wind gathers gale-force strength as the events of the past collide with the present – and, for Anni, the political becomes all too personal.
Repetition: A Novel
by Peter HandkeSet in 1960, Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke's Repetition tells of Filib Kobal's journey from his home in Carinthia to Slovenia on the trail of his missing brother, Gregor. He is armed only with two of Gregor's books: a copy book from agricultural school, and a Slovenian - German dictionary, in which Gregor has marked certain words. The resulting investigation of the laws of language and naming becomes a transformative investigation of himself and the world around him."Handke's eminence, displayed in a substantial oeuvre of plays, novels and poems, is reaffirmed brilliantly by [Repetition]." - Publishers Weekly
White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness
by Maurice BergerThe acclaimed work that debunks our myths and false assumptions about race in AmericaMaurice Berger grew up hypersensitized to race in the charged environment of New York City in the sixties. His father was a Jewish liberal who worshiped Martin Luther King, Jr.; his mother a dark-skinned Sephardic Jew who hated black people. Berger himself was one of the few white kids in his Lower East Side housing project.Berger's unusual experience--and his determination to examine the subject of race for its multiple and intricate meanings--makes White Lies a fresh and startling book.Berger has become a passionate observer of race matters, searching out the subtle and not-so-subtle manifestations of racial meaning in everyday life. In White Lies, he encourages us to reckon with our own complex and often troubling opinions about race. The result is an uncommonly honest and affecting look at race in America today--free of cant, surprisingly entertaining, unsettled and unsettling.
Reputation: A Novel
by Lex CroucherBridgerton meets Gossip Girl with a dash of Jane Austen, in Reputation, a Regency-era historical romantic comedy with a deliciously feminist twist, from a hilarious new British voice, Lex Croucher.Abandoned by her parents, bookish and sheltered Georgiana Ellers is spending the summer with her stodgy aunt and uncle at their home in the English countryside. At a particularly dull party, she meets the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy member of the in-crowd who delights Georgiana with her disregard for so-called "polite society."Lonely and vulnerable, Georgiana quickly falls in with Frances and her wealthy, wild, and deeply improper friends, who introduce her to the upper echelons of Regency aristocracy, and a world of drunken debauchery, frivolous spending, and mysterious young men. One, in particular, stands out from the rest: Thomas Hawksley, who has a tendency to cross paths with Georgiana in her most embarrassing moments. Sparks fly, but Thomas seems unimpressed with the company she is keeping. And soon, Georgiana begins to wonder whether she’ll ever feel like she fits in––or if the price of entry into Frances’s gilded world will ultimately be higher than she is willing to pay.Set against a backdrop of lavish parties, handsome men on horseback––and in a time when one’s reputation was everything––this edgy, hilarious romantic comedy explores sex, consent, belonging, and status through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine that Austen herself would have cheered for.
Voices of Children of Divorce
by David Royko"Among the scores of books concerning divorce, rarely have the voices of the innocent victims--the children--been heard. In Dr. Royko's deeply moving assemblage of the kids' sometimes troubled yet revealing thoughts, we hear them at last" --STUDS TERKEL, author of Working"The silent sounds of family breakups are captured with startling clarity by Dr. David Royko, who helps us to hear the observations and intimate revelations of those who have the least control of the process and who are most affected by it. By giving voice to these silent witnesses, Dr. Royko confirms for us working in the field--lawyers, judges, mediators, social workers, and therapists--the devastating impact of divorce on those least able to cope, and the need for divorcing parents to develop an awareness of the child's perspective." --BENJAMIN S. MACKOFF, former presiding judge of the Cook County Domestic Relations Court and director of family mediation services, Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck"Dr. David Royko's Voices of Children of Divorce provides sage observations from the children who have been the witness of adult folly. The book is truly wonderful in that it allows children with vastly different experiences to share their perspectives with clarity and focus, in the process teaching adults how to better manage divorce." --BENNETT L. LEVENTHAL, M.D., Irving B. Harris Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Chicago"At last we hear from that silent majority, the children, who are always the victims in divorce. Dr. David Royko's collection of their candid observations should move divorcing parents to reevaluate their priorities and their behavior." --JENNY GARDEN, author of The (Almost) Painless Divorce: What Your Lawyer Won't Tell You
A Really Cute Corpse (The Claire Malloy Mysteries)
by Joan HessWhen Claire Malloy's best friend Luanne Bradshaw goes down with a badly sprained ankle, someone must fill in her shoes as Thurberfest beauty Pageant coordinator and usher a bevy of aspiring beauty queen through the two-day event. Enter Claire Malloy to the rescue. But this is one job Claire would gladly be fired from. Now, already fending off a hostile theater owner, and overly-agressive personal trainer, an incontinent show-dog, a fifteen-year-old daughter with more growing pains than she can count, and a talent contest in need of some talent, Claire must face one more problem--someone is trying to kill the reigning Miss Thurberfest.When a ghastly murder scene signals the culprit's success, Claire's investigative instincts take over, but when she digs too close to the truth, the race is on to discover the killer's identity before Claire herself is crowned the next victim...
Salt: A Novel
by Isabel ZuberIn this beautifully crafted debut novel, poet Isabel Zuber deftly traces the joys and the sorrows of a passionate but troubled marriage in Appalachia at the turn of the last century. Anna Stockton was a bright and imaginative child, reveling in a rare wild freedom in the mountains of western North Carolina. As a young woman possessed by romantic yearnings and a great love of books, she hungers for a new kind of life for herself. John Bayley is a hard-driven hill farmer who carries with him the pain of the early death of his father and the loss of two previous wives. When a sudden encounter brings the two together, Anna and John marry into a difficult and passionate union, one that mirrors the changing, sometimes violent, and often haunted times in which they live. Turning her jeweler's eye upon the members of a small rural community, Isabel Zuber weaves together the lives of John and Anna's family and friends in a deeply moving account of exultation and despair, of grief and ghosts. A novel worthy of the element that gives it its name—an emblem of work and sacrifice as well as of blessing and preservation—Salt is entrancing, piercingly honest fiction that gazes deeply into the human heart and yields the wisdom that such scrutiny brings.
Let the Baby Drive: Navigating the Road of New Motherhood
by Lu HanessianThis insightful, deeply poignant and often hilarious narrative about the first years of motherhood inspires new mothers to follow their baby's cues and trust their own instincts. In letting her baby drive, the author didn't hand over the keys, but she let him navigate while she steered--and got to know him. Empathy bred understanding, a kind of two-way mirror that allowed them to learn from eachother. This is not a "how-to" book but rather a "why-to" book that speaks to the human spirit about love, fear and letting go.
Kingdom River (The Snowfall Trilogy)
by Mitchell SmithSam Monroe is the reluctant commander of a tough-minded warrior people living in what was once northern Mexico. His tiny country is flanked on the northeast by the Kingdom River, a vast, trade-driven nation that replaced the southern United States, and on the northwest by the Khanate, an empire of nomads who swept down the west coast after crossing the ice from what was once Russia. Sam's people cling to a precarious, hard-won freedom. Toghrul Khan, leader of the Khanate, wants Kingdom's lucrative trade and lush farmlands. To get them, Sam Monroe knows, the Khan's forces will march right over his people's small towns and precious homesteads. His country's only hope is an alliance with Kingdom-but the far larger Kingdom may simply swallow them up. Unless . . .Sam's proven ability in the field attracts the attention of Queen Joan, who rules Kingdom with a heart as cold as the Colorado ice where she was raised. But if she gives Sam Monroe command of Kingdom's forces, her loyal generals and admirals may feel a lot less loyal. Unless . . . Young, bookish princess Rachel is the key. A marriage between Sam and the princess unites both their nations and their fighting forces and gives the commanders a way to save face.Has the alliance been made in time? The Khan's armies are sweeping east in a rush, threatening both sides of the vast Mississippi River. Kingdom's large army and navy move excruciatingly slowly. Sam's people are fleet but greatly outnumbered. And there are other dangers Sam Monroe is just beginning to comprehend. The technologically advanced people of New England, who breed monsters in women's wombs and have learned to levitate, are watching the growing conflict between the Khan and Kingdom and more important, watching Sam as he learns not just to command but to rule. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Pen Is Mightier: The Muckraking Life of Charles Edward Russell
by Robert MiraldiCharles Edward Russell was a muckraking journalist who exposed the dark underside of America's class system at the turn of the 20th century. The scandals he revealed through investigative reporting led to some of the most important and largest reform efforts of the period, in areas such as housing, prisons, and race reform. A Pulitzer Prize winner, author of 27 books, and a founder of the NAACP, Russell has nonetheless faded from public view. In this book, Robert Miraldi restores him to his rightful place in history. Miraldi's biography of Russell sheds light on the Hearst and Pulitzer newspaper empires, the growth of yellow journalism, and numerous scandals of the period (including Lizzie Borden's murder of her parents and the gruesome details of the Chicago meatpacking industry). It also provides a fascinating look at the growth of the American Socialist Party, of which Russell was an active member until he resigned when his pro-World War I stance brought him into conflict with other members of the Party.
A Very Private Gentleman: A Novel
by Martin BoothThe locals in the southern Italian town where he lives call him Signor Farfalla--Mr. Butterfly: for he is a discreet gentleman who paints rare butterflies. His life is inconspicuous--mornings spent brushing at a canvas, afternoons idling in the cafes, and evening talks with his friend the town priest over a glass of brandy.Yet there are other sides to this gentleman's life: Clara: the young student who moonlights in the town bordello. And another woman who arrives with $100,000 and a commission, but not for a painting of butterflies.With this assignment returns the dark fear that has dogged Signor Farfalla's mysterious life. Almost instantly, he senses a deadly circle closing in on him, one which he may or may not elude. Part thriller, part character study, part drama of deceit and self-betrayal, A Very Private Gentleman shows Martin Booth at the very height of his powers