A Chinese woman chronicles the struggle of her grandmother, her mother, and herself to survive in a China torn apart by wars, invasions, revolution, and continuing upheaval, from 1907 to the present.

Weeds of the West is the foremost guide to identifying weeds in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. This easy-to-use guide contains over 900 brilliant color photographs showing the early growth stages, mature plants...  more

Weeds of the West is the foremost guide to identifying weeds in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. This easy-to-use guide contains over 900 brilliant color photographs showing the early growth stages, mature plants and features for positive identification of each weed discussed. Over one-third of this edition is newly revised and expanded with over 300 new photos. This full-color, easy-to-use guide describes important weed species from parsley to sunflower in the Western United States Learning to identify unwanted plants around the home, farm or ranch will be much easier with this book published by the Western Society of Weed Science and co-sponsored by the Cooperative Extension of the United States. Weeds of the West will help you identify weeds that compete with native plants, horticultural and agricultural crops, as well as those that can poison livestock and people. Weeds shown were chosen for abundance, ability to reproduce, compete, spread rapidly. Descriptions, habitats and characteristics of each plant are also included in this handy reference guide. Written by seven Extension Specialists and published by the University of Wyoming Agricultural Extension, Weeds of the West is the incomparable guide to everything you need to know about western weeds.

All around us there are wild plants good for food, medicine, clothing, and shelter, but most of us don't know how to identify or use them. Delena Tull amply supplies that knowledge in this book, one of the first focused specifically on plants that grow in Texas and surrounding regions of the...  more

All around us there are wild plants good for food, medicine, clothing, and shelter, but most of us don't know how to identify or use them. Delena Tull amply supplies that knowledge in this book, one of the first focused specifically on plants that grow in Texas and surrounding regions of the South and Southwest. Extensively illustrated with black-and-white drawings and color photos, this book includes the following special features: ∑ Recipes for foods made from edible wild plants. ∑ Wild teas and spices. ∑ Wild plant dyes, with instructions for preparing the plants and dying wool, cotton, and other materials. ∑ Instructions for preparing fibers for use in making baskets, textiles, and paper. ∑ Information on wild plants used for making rubber, wax, oil, and soap. ∑ Information on medicinal uses of plants. ∑ An identification guide to hay fever plants and plants that cause rashes. ∑ Instructions for distinguishing edible from poisonous berries. ∑ Detailed information on poisonous plants, including poison ivy, oak, and sumac, as well as herbal treatments for their rashes.

This is an incredibly informative and reader-friendly book about a common debilitating medical condition that goes largely undiagnosed and untreated. ADRENAL FATIGUE: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome is a very empowering work cram-packed with vital information about a condition that very likely...  more

This is an incredibly informative and reader-friendly book about a common debilitating medical condition that goes largely undiagnosed and untreated. ADRENAL FATIGUE: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome is a very empowering work cram-packed with vital information about a condition that very likely affects millions of people.

Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes--and to a writer with...  more

Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes--and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. For a start there's the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. Despite Katz's overwhelming desire to find cozy restaurants, he and Bryson eventually settle into their stride, and while on the trail they meet a bizarre assortment of hilarious characters. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods is destined to become a modern classic of travel literature.

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, comes an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery that is at once heartbreakingly tender and morally courageous about what it means to be human. Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school,...  more

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, comes an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery that is at once heartbreakingly tender and morally courageous about what it means to be human. Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it. Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it's only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is. Never Let Me Go breaks through the boundaries of the literary novel. It is a gripping mystery, a beautiful love story, and also a scathing critique of human arrogance and a moral examination of how we treat the vulnerable and different in our society. In exploring the themes of memory and the impact of the past, Ishiguro takes on the idea of a possible future to create his most moving and powerful book to date.

Master detective Judge Dee sets out to solve a puzzling double murder and discovers that complicated passions lurk beneath the seemingly tranquil landscape of academic life. A student has been murdered; a beautiful poetess is accused of whipping her maidservant to death; and further mysteries...  more

Master detective Judge Dee sets out to solve a puzzling double murder and discovers that complicated passions lurk beneath the seemingly tranquil landscape of academic life. A student has been murdered; a beautiful poetess is accused of whipping her maidservant to death; and further mysteries lie in the shadows of the Shrine of the Black Fox. "The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik's skilled hands, comes vividly alive again."--Allen J. Hubin, New York Times Book Review"If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee, I envy you that initial pleasure . . . the discovery of a great detective story. For the magistrate of Poo-yan belongs in that select group headed by Sherlock Holmes."--Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times"Pleasing as a cup of jasmine tea."--Parade of BooksRobert van Gulik (1910-67), a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture, drew his plots from the popular detective novels that appeared in seventeenth-century China.

C. S. Lewis was famous both as a fiction writer and as a Christian thinker, and scholars sometimes divide his personality in two. Yet a large part of Lewis's appeal, for both his audiences, lay in his ability to fuse imagination with instruction. "Let the pictures tell you their own moral," he...  more

C. S. Lewis was famous both as a fiction writer and as a Christian thinker, and scholars sometimes divide his personality in two. Yet a large part of Lewis's appeal, for both his audiences, lay in his ability to fuse imagination with instruction. "Let the pictures tell you their own moral," he once advised writers of children's stories. "But if they don't show you any moral, don't put one in."

Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is now going nowhere fast. She traded in her chic life for a shabby one. And now she's on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past... After two weeks as the new salesclerk...  more

Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is now going nowhere fast. She traded in her chic life for a shabby one. And now she's on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past... After two weeks as the new salesclerk at Juliana's, Fort Lauderdale's ultra-exclusive clothing boutique, Helen still feels out of fashion. And since the only crime likely to be committed around here is being old -- or worse, looking old-Helen figures she's safe. Until she discovers the manager has been embezzling money and selling designer drugs along with the designer clothes. Add murder to the mix -- and Helen's dead-end job is downright deadly.

Helen has a new job "off the books" at Page Turners bookstore in Fort Lauderdale...until the owner is murdered. But since the arrogant Page Turner III had so many enemies, Helen will have to read between the lines to uncover the truth about a clever killer.

Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is going nowhere fast. Forced to trade in her chic life for a shabby one, she's now on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past... Helen Hawthorne has just found her new...  more

Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is going nowhere fast. Forced to trade in her chic life for a shabby one, she's now on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past... Helen Hawthorne has just found her new calling...as a telemarketer. And it's not long before she's disrupting dinners all over the country with her pesky calls. But during a phone survey to the home of Henry Asporth, she's the one who gets an earful when she overhears an argument, followed by a scream...and then dead air. Was someone being strangled? Or was it just a loud movie? Helen searches the office computer database to learn more about Asporth and the much younger woman he allegedly lived with...before she disappeared. And soon Helen's in over her head, chasing clues and trying to avoid a close call...with a killer.

Helen Hawthorne is on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of her past -- and one paycheck ahead of disaster. To make it, she jumps from one dead-end job to another. Luckily, she's got a lot of talents -- including one for detection... When Helen Hawthorne takes a job at the upscale...  more

Helen Hawthorne is on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of her past -- and one paycheck ahead of disaster. To make it, she jumps from one dead-end job to another. Luckily, she's got a lot of talents -- including one for detection... When Helen Hawthorne takes a job at the upscale Millicent's Bridal Salon, she expects to see some sentimental tears as brides pick out their gowns. But when a rich, obnoxious mother-of-the-bride named Kiki is killed, it seems most of the tears are fake. When Helen's fingerprints are found on the murder weapon -- a wedding dress -- she must solve the case to prove her innocence. Is the murderer Kiki's money-strapped ex-husband? The bride who finally got tired of letting Mom run the show? The groom whose career is about to be ruined? Or one of the numerous boy toys promised a million dollars in the will? Helen better find out quick -- and make sure Kiki's funeral outfit doesn't clash with the groom's mother's...

With a resume that includes attempted assault and alimony evasion, Helen Hawthorne has no choice but to take on a series of dead-end jobs to make ends meet. At the Pampered Pet Boutique, Helen hustles a selection of canine cuisine and couture that beats anything in her own fridge or closet. And...  more

With a resume that includes attempted assault and alimony evasion, Helen Hawthorne has no choice but to take on a series of dead-end jobs to make ends meet. At the Pampered Pet Boutique, Helen hustles a selection of canine cuisine and couture that beats anything in her own fridge or closet. And when Helen goes to deliver a dog to a client, she finds the blonde trophy wife stretchedout naked by her pool, a pair of ten-inch grooming scissors sticking out of her chest. Later that same day, a valuable labradoodle puppy is kidnapped from the boutique. All eyes turn to Helen as the main suspect, and with a hurricane headed straight for South Florida, Helen's got to find the killer and come clean, or else her new life will be gone with the wind.

Working at Sybil's Full Moon Hotel in Fort Lauderdale keeps Helen both financially and physically fit. But cleaning up after hotel guests is not like cleaning a house -- it's like cleaning fifteen houses in a single day. Not to mention the dreaded room 323, the hotel's most...  more

Working at Sybil's Full Moon Hotel in Fort Lauderdale keeps Helen both financially and physically fit. But cleaning up after hotel guests is not like cleaning a house -- it's like cleaning fifteen houses in a single day. Not to mention the dreaded room 323, the hotel's most notorious. The guests in 323 are always drunk, loud, and rude -- and worst of all, they never tip. When a maid goes missing the day after a disastrous mess in 323, the rest of the cleaning staff chalk it up to job burnout and imagine that Rhonda has finally ditched the housekeeping gig to run off with the dreamy rich boyfriend she's always talking about. But then Rhonda turns up dead in a dumpster, and no one feels safe and snug in South Florida, especially not Helen. Another dead body means another chance for the cops to find her. And to make matters worse, her ex-husband is hot on her trail, checking in to the very hotel where she works. Sadly, the cops don't seem to care much about a murdered maid, but they have noticed there's something shady about the victim's coworker and her not quite truthful story. If Helen doesn't manage to dodge their questions and shake off her ex, it could be checkout time for her.

The national bestselling author who turns "minimum wage into maximum hilarity" (Nancy Martin, author of Murder Melts in Your Mouth) reveals the lifestyles of the rich and murdered... Helen Hawthorne's latest dead-end job is in a country club's complaint department, dealing with the gripes of...  more

The national bestselling author who turns "minimum wage into maximum hilarity" (Nancy Martin, author of Murder Melts in Your Mouth) reveals the lifestyles of the rich and murdered... Helen Hawthorne's latest dead-end job is in a country club's complaint department, dealing with the gripes of the rich and spoiled. Then Rob, her deadbeat ex-husband, sails back into her life aboard the yacht of his new lady, Marcella -- also known as the Black Widow for her string of dead spouses. The next day Rob's reported missing. If the Black Widow has such a murderous reputation, then why is Helen led from the club in handcuffs? When Marcella helps Helen get released, the two form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened. Helen's barely begun digging when a club patron is discovered beaten to death with a golf club -- his membership permanently expired. Someone got more than a little teed off and it's up to Helen to get to the truth without getting clubbed herself...

The national bestselling author who turns 'minimum wage into maximum hilarity' ( Nancy Martin, author of Murder Melts in Your Mouth) presents a hair-raising murder mystery of do or dye. Helen Hawthorne's latest dead-end job is in Miguel Angel's Fort Lauderdale hair salon,...  more

The national bestselling author who turns 'minimum wage into maximum hilarity' ( Nancy Martin, author of Murder Melts in Your Mouth) presents a hair-raising murder mystery of do or dye. Helen Hawthorne's latest dead-end job is in Miguel Angel's Fort Lauderdale hair salon, where a trim can cost as much as a car payment and a blowout can wipe you out. But when one of the salon's most famous clients, gossip blogger and cable-TV show host Kingman 'King' Oden is murdered at his own wedding, things get a little hairy and King becomes the prime suspect. To save her boss - and her job - Helen is determined to find the murderer. When she finds herself the target of threatening notes, it's more imperative than ever that she figure out who at the wedding was dressed to kill.

At Snapdragon, a high-end designer consignment shop, Helen is at the beck and call of snobby-yet frugal-customers. That alone is a deadly combination, especially with Chrissy, a drool-worthy fashionista who walks in with a purse to sell, and ends up screaming at her husband and another...  more

At Snapdragon, a high-end designer consignment shop, Helen is at the beck and call of snobby-yet frugal-customers. That alone is a deadly combination, especially with Chrissy, a drool-worthy fashionista who walks in with a purse to sell, and ends up screaming at her husband and another customer. Helen is used to dealing with snobby women, controlling husbands, and fashionable politicians. But she's about to have to handle a brand new type of unsatisfied customer-a murderer. Chrissy is found dead in Snapdragon's dressing room, with the hand-painted scarf Helen was just holding tied around her neck. And Helen goes from being low on society's totem pole to high on the police's suspect list.  

Imperial China, T'ang dynasty, seventh century A.D. -- home of imperial magistrate and detective Judge Dee. A near mythic figure, Judge Dee distinguished himself as tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger. Long after his death, accounts of his exploits were celebrated in Chinese...  more

Imperial China, T'ang dynasty, seventh century A.D. -- home of imperial magistrate and detective Judge Dee. A near mythic figure, Judge Dee distinguished himself as tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger. Long after his death, accounts of his exploits were celebrated in Chinese folklore. In The Phantom of the Temple, three separate puzzles -- the disappearance of a wealthy merchant's daughter, twenty missing bars of gold, and a decapitated corpse -- are pieced together by the clever judge to solve three murders and one complex, gruesome plot. Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.  

Judge Dee has been appointed emergency governor of the plague- and drought-ridden Imperial City. As his guards help the city fend off a popular uprising, an aristocrat from one of the oldest families in China suffers an 'accident' in a deserted mansion. The illustrious judge uses...  more

Judge Dee has been appointed emergency governor of the plague- and drought-ridden Imperial City. As his guards help the city fend off a popular uprising, an aristocrat from one of the oldest families in China suffers an 'accident' in a deserted mansion. The illustrious judge uses his trademark expertise to unravel the mysteries of the nobleman, a shattered vase, and a dead bondmaid. Along the way he encounters a woman who fights with loaded sleeves, a nearly drowned courtesan, and an elaborate trap set for a murderer.

Early in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife. Meanwhile, a banker has...  more

Early in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife. Meanwhile, a banker has inexplicably killed himself, and a lovely lady has allowed Dee's lieutenant, Chiao Tai, to believe she is a courtesan. Dee and Chiao Tai go incognito among a gang of robbers to solve this mystery, and find the leader of the robbers is more honorable than the magistrate."One of the most satisfyingly devious of the Judge Dee novels, with unusual historical richness in its portrayal of the China of the T'ang dynasty."-—New York Times Book Review"Even Judge Dee is baffled by Robert van Gulik's new mysteries in The Lacquer Screen. Disguised as a petty crook, he spends a couple of precarious days in the headquarters of the underworld, hobnobbing with the robber king. Dee's lively thieving friends furnish some vital clues to this strange and fascinating jigsaw."-—The Spectator"So scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader."-—New York TimesRobert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.

Putting all her eggs in one basket, Agatha Raisin gives up her successful PR firm, sells her London flat, and samples a taste of early retirement in the quiet village of Carsely. Bored, lonely and used to getting her way, she enters a local baking contest: Surely a blue ribbon for the best...  more

Putting all her eggs in one basket, Agatha Raisin gives up her successful PR firm, sells her London flat, and samples a taste of early retirement in the quiet village of Carsely. Bored, lonely and used to getting her way, she enters a local baking contest: Surely a blue ribbon for the best quiche will make her the toast of the town. But her recipe for social advancement sours when Judge Cummings-Browne not only snubs her entry-but falls over dead! After her quiche's secret ingredient turns out to be poison, she must reveal the unsavory truth... Agatha has never baked a thing in her life! In fact, she bought her entry ready-made from an upper crust London quicherie. Grating on the nerves of several Carsely residents, she is soon receiving sinister notes. Has her cheating and meddling landed her in hot water, or are the threats related to the suspicious death? It may mean the difference between egg on her face and a coroner's tag on her toe...

Agatha Raisin believes the new village vet has taken a shine to her, but before romance can bloom, he accidently kills himself. Oh well, there is still her distinguished military neighbour, and prehaps a common interest like a murder investigation will bring them closer together.

Agatha Raisin's latest plan to catch bachelor James Lacey is to take up gardening and enter the prestigious Carsley Horticultural Contest. Unfortunately, a hard freeze kills all of her seedlings just as her former assistant, Roy, arrives to persuade her to return to work at the PR agency. He...  more

Agatha Raisin's latest plan to catch bachelor James Lacey is to take up gardening and enter the prestigious Carsley Horticultural Contest. Unfortunately, a hard freeze kills all of her seedlings just as her former assistant, Roy, arrives to persuade her to return to work at the PR agency. He promises to restore her garden, but, as the contest approaches, the plants are mysteriously being uprooted, poisoned, and burned, as are plants in gardens throughout the Cotswold town where she lives. When the prime suspect, a beautiful blond newcomer named Mary Fortune, who has her eye on James, turns up murdered in a particularly nasty way, he and Agatha must put aside their differences to solve the puzzle.

When Sir Charles Fraith, a kindly baronet, receives a letter from Jessica Tartinck, president of the Dembley Walkers Asssociation, his life is thrown into chaos. Ms. Tartinck, as part of her campaign against landowners over the use of public footpaths, has chosen Fraith for her latest attack....  more

When Sir Charles Fraith, a kindly baronet, receives a letter from Jessica Tartinck, president of the Dembley Walkers Asssociation, his life is thrown into chaos. Ms. Tartinck, as part of her campaign against landowners over the use of public footpaths, has chosen Fraith for her latest attack. Although he suggests a reasonable counteroffer to her demands, Jessica ignores him. Jessica's protest march turns into a death march and she ends up murdered in Sir Charles' field. Agatha is only too willing to try to help clear Sir Charles' name, especially since it means playing the "wife" of her attractive and elusive neighbor, James Lacey. Toward murder and romance, Agatha takes an agreeably direct approach.

The morning of Agatha Raisin's long-awaited marriage to her attractive and elusive neighbor, James Lacey, dawns bright and clear. But the storm clouds of the day before would have been more appropriate. A new anti-wrinkle cream turns Agatha's face into one large red rash, James refuses to...  more

The morning of Agatha Raisin's long-awaited marriage to her attractive and elusive neighbor, James Lacey, dawns bright and clear. But the storm clouds of the day before would have been more appropriate. A new anti-wrinkle cream turns Agatha's face into one large red rash, James refuses to discuss his feelings for her, and then Agatha's first husband, Jimmy Raisin, reappears just in time to keep her from committing bigamy. The ensuing brouhaha -- Agatha tries to strangle Jimmy, whom she had thought long dead -- humiliates and embarrasses James Lacey, who abruptly breaks his engagement to Agatha. When Jimmy is found murdered the next morning, Agatha and James are the prime suspects. Since the easiest way to clear their names is to find the real murderer, Agatha convinces James to help her investigate. But will their subsequent close proximity -- which has them, ironically, pretending to be man and wife -- be enough to soothe James's bruised pride?

Agatha Raisin's marriage was put off when her ex-husband showed up, unfortunately alive. Fortunately, he was murdered and Agatha solved the crime. Now she is off to Cyprus to track down her ex-fiance. Instead of enjoying their planned honeymoon, however, they witness the murder of an obnoxious...  more

Agatha Raisin's marriage was put off when her ex-husband showed up, unfortunately alive. Fortunately, he was murdered and Agatha solved the crime. Now she is off to Cyprus to track down her ex-fiance. Instead of enjoying their planned honeymoon, however, they witness the murder of an obnoxious tourist. Two sets of terrible tourists surround the unhappy couple, arousing Agatha's suspicions. And, much to James' chagrin, she won't rest until she finds the killer. Unfortunately, it seems the killer also won't rest until Agatha is out of the picture. Agatha is forced to track down the murderer, try to rekindle her romance with James, and fend off a suave baronet, all while coping with the fact that it's always bathing suit season in Cyprus.

Agatha Raisin's neighboring village of Ancombe is usually the picture of quiet English Cotswolds charm. Yet the arrival of a new mineral-water company, which intends to tap into the village spring, sends tempers flaring and divides the parish council into two stubborn camps. When Agatha, the new...  more

Agatha Raisin's neighboring village of Ancombe is usually the picture of quiet English Cotswolds charm. Yet the arrival of a new mineral-water company, which intends to tap into the village spring, sends tempers flaring and divides the parish council into two stubborn camps. When Agatha, the new PR person for the company, finds the council chairman murdered at the basin of the spring, tongues start wagging. Could one of the council members have silenced the chairman before he could cast the deciding vote? Village gossip takes on a life of its own and Agatha must weed her way through the council members' alibis, promote the water company, and try to resurrect her love life, all while pretending she is over her ex-fiance, James Lacey.

Mrs. Agatha Raisin fancied herself to be a detective to rival the fictional ones like Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey. She was a stocky middle-aged woman with good legs, a round face and small bearlike eyes which looked suspiciously out at the world But only that week she had discovered nasty...  more

Mrs. Agatha Raisin fancied herself to be a detective to rival the fictional ones like Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey. She was a stocky middle-aged woman with good legs, a round face and small bearlike eyes which looked suspiciously out at the world But only that week she had discovered nasty gray hairs appearing all over. She had bought one of those colour rinses, but it had turned the gray purple. "Go to Mr. John," advised Mrs. Bloxby, the vicar's wife. "His place is in the High Street in Evesham. He's supposed to be a wizard at tinting hair." After a home dye job ruins her hair, Agatha Raisin, the prickly yet lovable amateur sleuth, turns to the wonderful new hairdresser in the neighboring town for help. And as Agatha soon learns, Mr. John is as skilled at repairing her coiffure as he is at romancing her heart. But the charming Mr. John isn't all he appears to be. According to gossip around the salon and the village, some of his former clients seem to be afraid of him. Could Mr. John really be a ruthless blackmailer? When a murderer strikes at the busy salon, Agatha must discover the truth and the killer's identity before it's too late.

There is nothing more depressing for a middle-aged lovelorn woman with bald patches on her head than to find herself in an English seaside resort out of season. Agatha Raisin, her hair falling out after a run-in with a hairdresser-cum-murderess from a previous investigation, travels to an...  more

There is nothing more depressing for a middle-aged lovelorn woman with bald patches on her head than to find herself in an English seaside resort out of season. Agatha Raisin, her hair falling out after a run-in with a hairdresser-cum-murderess from a previous investigation, travels to an old-fashioned hotel in order to repair the damage away from the neighbors in her all-too-cozy Cotswolds village. Unhappy about the slow results and prompted by the elderly residents of the resort, she consults the local witch for help. Agatha purchases a hair tonic (and a love potion, just in case!) and is soon sprouting hairs and capturing the fancy of the village police inspector. But the quiet town is stunned by the murder of the witch. Which one of the graying guests is capable of such a brutal crime? The brassy yet endearing Agatha won't stop until she finds the culprit--and, of course, a little love, too.

When a fortune teller from a previous case informs Agatha Raisin that her destiny-and true love-lies in Norfolk, she promptly rents a cottage in the quaint village of Fryfam. No sooner does she arrive than strange things start happening. Random objects go missing from people's homes and odd...  more

When a fortune teller from a previous case informs Agatha Raisin that her destiny-and true love-lies in Norfolk, she promptly rents a cottage in the quaint village of Fryfam. No sooner does she arrive than strange things start happening. Random objects go missing from people's homes and odd little lights are seen dancing in the villagers' gardens and yards. Stories soon begin circulating about the presence of fairies. But when a prominent village resident is found murdered, and some suspicion falls on her and her friend Sir Charles Fraith, Agatha decides she's had enough of this fairy nonsense and steps up her sleuthing for a human killer. The prickly yet endearing Agatha will have fans dangling in suspense: Will she catch her crook-and a husband?

Recently married to James Lacey, the witty and fractious Agatha Raisin quickly finds that marriage, and love, are not all they are cracked up to be. Rather than basking in marital bliss, the newlyweds are living in separate cottages and accusing each other of infidelity. After a particularly...  more

Recently married to James Lacey, the witty and fractious Agatha Raisin quickly finds that marriage, and love, are not all they are cracked up to be. Rather than basking in marital bliss, the newlyweds are living in separate cottages and accusing each other of infidelity. After a particularly raucous fight in the local pub, James suddenly vanishes - a bloodstain the only clue to his fate - and Agatha is the prime suspect." Determined to clear her name and find her husband, Agatha begins her investigation. But her sleuthing is thwarted when James's suspected mistress, Melissa, is found murdered. Joined by her old friend Sir Charles, Agatha digs into Melissa's past and uncovers two ex-husbands, an angry sister, and dubious relations with bikers. Are Melissa's death and James's disappearance connected? Will Agatha reunite with her husband or will she find herself alone once again?

Marital bliss was short-lived for Agatha Raisin. Her marriage to James Lacey was a disaster from the beginning, and in the end, he left her -- not for another woman, but for God. After having been miraculously cured of a brain tumor, James has decided to join a monastery in France. Agatha can...  more

Marital bliss was short-lived for Agatha Raisin. Her marriage to James Lacey was a disaster from the beginning, and in the end, he left her -- not for another woman, but for God. After having been miraculously cured of a brain tumor, James has decided to join a monastery in France. Agatha can usually depend on her old friend, Sir Charles Fraith, to be there when times are tough, but even Charles has abandoned her, dashing off to Paris to marry a young French tart. Miserable and alone, Agatha hops on a plane and heads for a remote island in the South Pacific. To Agatha's surprise, she makes friends with her fellow travelers easily, and keeps herself out of mischief, despite the odd feeling she gets from one particularly attractive honeymooning couple. But when she later finds that the pretty bride has drowned under suspicious circumstances, Agatha wishes she had found a way to intervene. Returning home to the Cotswolds, Agatha is grimly determined to move on with her life and to forget about James and Charles. They have, after all, forgotten about her. And what better way than to throw herself into another murder investigation? A woman, dressed in a wedding gown and still clutching her bouquet, has just been found floating in a river. The police say it's suicide, but Agatha suspects the girl's flashy young fianc?. With the help of her handsome, and single, new neighbor, Agatha sets off to prove the police wrong.

Agatha Raisin is feeling miserable--and with good reason. Her ex-husband, James, has abandoned her, and she's been humiliated by an unseemly proposition from John Armitage, her handsome neighbor. So complete is her devastation that Agatha has given up on makeup and taken to wearing the loose...  more

Agatha Raisin is feeling miserable--and with good reason. Her ex-husband, James, has abandoned her, and she's been humiliated by an unseemly proposition from John Armitage, her handsome neighbor. So complete is her devastation that Agatha has given up on makeup and taken to wearing the loose cotton dresses and flat, sensible shoes she has always abhorred. But there is light at the end of this dark and lonely tunnel, and its source is Carsely's beatific new curate, Tristan Delon. With his golden hair, large blue eyes, and perfect mouth, Tristan has attracted the interest of more than a few of his female congregants. And to her surprise, he seems to have taken a special interest in Agatha. Despite his charms, however, there is something odd about the curate, and after he's found dead in the vicar's study, it's up to Agatha and John to investigate.

Just back from an extended stay in London, Agatha Raisin finds herself greeted by torrential rains and an old, familiar feeling of boredom. When her handsome new neighbor, Paul Chatterton, shows up on her doorstep, she tries her best to ignore his obvious charms, but his sparkling black eyes and...  more

Just back from an extended stay in London, Agatha Raisin finds herself greeted by torrential rains and an old, familiar feeling of boredom. When her handsome new neighbor, Paul Chatterton, shows up on her doorstep, she tries her best to ignore his obvious charms, but his sparkling black eyes and the promise of adventure soon lure her into another investigation. Paul has heard rumors about Agatha's reputation as the Cotswold village sleuth and wastes no time offering their services to the crotchety owner of a haunted house. Whispers, footsteps, and a cold white mist are plaguing Mrs. Witherspoon, but the police have failed to come up with any leads, supernatural or otherwise. The neighbors think it's all a desperate ploy for attention, but Paul and Agatha are sure something more devious is going on. Someone's playing tricks on Mrs. Witherspoon, and when she turns up dead under suspicious circumstances, Agatha finds herself caught up in another baffling murder mystery.

Bossy, impulsive, and unlucky in love, the all-too-human Agatha Raisin has proved to be a surprisingly effective---and endearing---amateur sleuth. But can Agatha make it as a private investigator? After getting mugged on vacation, in what she will always think of as the Paris Incident, she...  more

Bossy, impulsive, and unlucky in love, the all-too-human Agatha Raisin has proved to be a surprisingly effective---and endearing---amateur sleuth. But can Agatha make it as a private investigator? After getting mugged on vacation, in what she will always think of as the Paris Incident, she decides to find out. Agatha soon learns that running her own detective agency in the Cotswolds is not quite like starring in a Raymond Chandler movie. Instead of dames in distress with big shoulder pads, her clients are ladies with missing cats and a man whose son has run off with his car. Agatha even worries that she might be outclassed by her sixty-seven-year-old secretary, Emma Comfrey. But then wealthy divorcee Catherine Laggat-Brown walks in with their first "real" case. Mrs. Laggat-Brown's daughter has received a death threat, and when Agatha thwarts an attack on the girl at a dinner dance, she recognizes an opportunity to show what Raisin Investigations can do. Even better, the case gives her a chance to reunite with her long-absent friend, Sir Charles Fraith. As they scour the Cotswolds in search of leads, Charles' insights prove invaluable and his charms irresistible, leading poor Emma to fall madly in love with him. As ever, Agatha bumbles her way through the case, trying her friends' patience and flirting shamelessly with the chief suspect. Will she put her tiny agency on the map, or has even the outrageous Agatha finally bitten off more than she can chew?

After being nearly killed by both a hired hit man and her former secretary, Agatha Raisin could use some low-key cases. So when Robert Smedley walks through the door, determined to prove that his wife is cheating, Raisin Investigations immediately offers to help. Trouble is, Agatha hates divorce...  more

After being nearly killed by both a hired hit man and her former secretary, Agatha Raisin could use some low-key cases. So when Robert Smedley walks through the door, determined to prove that his wife is cheating, Raisin Investigations immediately offers to help. Trouble is, Agatha hates divorce cases -- especially when the client is as pompous as Smedley -- but she has a business to run and she's not about to turn away a paying customer. Unfortunately for Agatha, Mabel Smedley appears to be the perfect wife, young and pretty and a regular volunteer at church. Although Smedley's case doesn't look promising, Agatha's attentions are diverted when she stumbles across the body of missing teenager, Jessica Bradley. In a sudden gesture of kindness (and good public relations), Agatha offers to investigate Jessica's death free of charge. As Agatha juggles her two biggest cases, things are turned upside down when Robert Smedley is found poisoned in his office. The prime suspect, his sainted wife Mabel, immediately hires Agatha to find the real killer. With the help of her old friend, Sir Charles Fraith, and some newly hired staff, Agatha Raisin sets off on another adventure solving crime in the English Cotswolds.

Agatha Raisin is lonely. Busy as she is with her detective agency and the meetings of the Carsely Ladies' Society, she still misses her ex-husband, James Lacey, so she welcomes his return to the cottage next door with her usual triumph of optimism over experience---especially when he invites her...  more

Agatha Raisin is lonely. Busy as she is with her detective agency and the meetings of the Carsely Ladies' Society, she still misses her ex-husband, James Lacey, so she welcomes his return to the cottage next door with her usual triumph of optimism over experience---especially when he invites her on holiday at a surprise location that was once very dear to him. With visions of a romantic hideaway in Italy or the Pacific dancing in her head, Agatha goes off happily with James to...Snoth-on-Sea, in Sussex. While James may have fond memories of boyhood holidays there, Snoth-on-Sea has seen better days, as has the once-grand Palace Hotel, now run-down and tacky and freezing cold. Nor do the other guests have much to recommend them, especially the brassy honeymoon couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jankers, who pick a fight with Agatha in the dining room. But trouble has a way of following Agatha even if romance does not: Just as she and James are preparing to flee to warmer climes, Geraldine Jankers is found dead on the beach---strangled with Agatha's scarf. So much for Agatha's holiday fantasies: Not only is it time to put her detective skills to work, but the police are not even sure that she'll be allowed to leave town.

Unlike quite a number of people, Agatha had not given up on Christmas. To have the perfect Christmas had been a childhood dream whilst surviving a rough upbringing in a Birmingham slum. Holly berries glistened, snow fell gently outside, and inside, all was Dickensian jollity. And in her dreams,...  more

Unlike quite a number of people, Agatha had not given up on Christmas. To have the perfect Christmas had been a childhood dream whilst surviving a rough upbringing in a Birmingham slum. Holly berries glistened, snow fell gently outside, and inside, all was Dickensian jollity. And in her dreams, James Lacey kissed her under the mistletoe, and, like a middle-aged sleeping beauty, she would awake to passion once more.... Agatha Raisin is bored. Her detective agency in the Cotswolds is thriving, but she'll scream if she has to deal with another missing cat or dog. Only two things seem to offer potential excitement: the upcoming Christmas festivities and her ex, James Lacey. This year she is sure that if she invites James to a really splendid, old-fashioned Christmas dinner, their love will rekindle like a warm Yule log. When a wealthy widow hires Agatha because she's convinced a member of her family is trying to kill her, Agatha is intrigued---especially when the widow drops dead after high tea at the manor house. Who in this rather sterile house, complete with fake family portraits, could have hated the old lady enough to poison her? Agatha sets out to find the murderer, all the while managing a pretty, teenage trainee who makes her feel old and planning for a picture-perfect Christmas, with James, all the trimmings, and perhaps even snow.

Cranky but lovable sleuth Agatha Raisin's detective agency has become so successful that she wants nothing more than to take quality time for rest and relaxation. But as soon as she begins closing the agency on weekends, she remembers that when she has plenty of quality time, she doesn't...  more

Cranky but lovable sleuth Agatha Raisin's detective agency has become so successful that she wants nothing more than to take quality time for rest and relaxation. But as soon as she begins closing the agency on weekends, she remembers that when she has plenty of quality time, she doesn't know what to do with it. So it doesn't take much for the vicar of a nearby village to persuade her to help publicize the church fete---especially when the fair's organizer, George Selby, turns out to be a gorgeous widower. Agatha brings out the crowds for the fete, all right, but there's more going on than innocent village fun. Several of the offerings in the jam-tasting booth turn out to be poisoned, and the festive family event becomes the scene of two murders. Along with her young and (much to her dismay) pretty sidekick, Toni, Agatha must uncover the truth behind the jam tampering, keep the church funds safe from theft, and expose the nasty secrets lurking in the village---all while falling for handsome George, who may have secrets of his own.

Bossy, impulsive, yet hopelessly romantic, Agatha is dreading the up-coming marriage of her ex-husband, James Lacey. Although she has set her sights on a handsome and beguiling new Frenchman, she can't stop obsessing about James. Her best intentions to move on with her life are put on...  more

Bossy, impulsive, yet hopelessly romantic, Agatha is dreading the up-coming marriage of her ex-husband, James Lacey. Although she has set her sights on a handsome and beguiling new Frenchman, she can't stop obsessing about James. Her best intentions to move on with her life are put on hold when Jame's young bride is shot to death just minutes before saying "I do," and Agatha is named the prime suspect. Agatha's sleuthing sidekick Toni stands ready to help find the real killer, but the case proves trickier than ever. Will her name be cleared, or has the outrageous Agatha finally had her last romp?

Agatha Raisin has always been ambivalent about holiday cheer, but her cozy little village of Carsely has long prided itself on its Christmas festivities. But this year Mr. John Sunday, a selfimportant officer with the Health and Safety Board, has ruled that the traditional tree on top of the...  more

Agatha Raisin has always been ambivalent about holiday cheer, but her cozy little village of Carsely has long prided itself on its Christmas festivities. But this year Mr. John Sunday, a selfimportant officer with the Health and Safety Board, has ruled that the traditional tree on top of the church is a public menace; that lampposts are unsafe for hanging illuminations; that May Dimwoody's homemade toys are dangerous for children... Things have reached such a desperate pass that the Carsely Ladies' Society joins forces with the ladies in the neighboring village of Odley Cruesis to try to put a stop to Mr. Sunday's meddling -- only to find that someone has literally put a stop to him with a kitchen knife. Agatha's detective agency is on the case, but when a man has made as many enemies as John Sunday, it's hard to know where to start...

After a disappointing Christmas season, the touristy Cotswold town of Winter Parva is upping the stakes with an old-fashioned pig roast, complete with music, merriment, and medieval Morris-dancing. Always one for a good roasting, Agatha Raisin is looking forward to the event, especially...  more

After a disappointing Christmas season, the touristy Cotswold town of Winter Parva is upping the stakes with an old-fashioned pig roast, complete with music, merriment, and medieval Morris-dancing. Always one for a good roasting, Agatha Raisin is looking forward to the event, especially after a heated dispute over a traffic ticket has her picturing a certain boorish cop turning on the spit. But when the big night arrives -- and the smoke clears -- Agatha notices that the slow-roasting “pig” has a tattoo with the name Amy on it. It’s the body of the policeman who had Agatha all fired up. And now his ex-wife Amy wants her to find the butcher who did the deed -- and solve a murder that’s disturbingly well done...

A brilliantly funny look at the tumultuous recent past from the Pulitzer Prize?winning humorist. Remember when everything was going to go to hell when Y2K struck? That didn?t happen. Right? But what did happen? To provide a little perspective on a really messed-up millennium (so far), the one...  more

A brilliantly funny look at the tumultuous recent past from the Pulitzer Prize?winning humorist. Remember when everything was going to go to hell when Y2K struck? That didn?t happen. Right? But what did happen? To provide a little perspective on a really messed-up millennium (so far), the one and only Dave Barry slips into his historian?s robe (it?s plush terrycloth) and revisits the defining moments in our country?s recent history?from the Bush years to?jeez, it?s still the Bush years! As an added bonus, Barry quickly?we?re busy here?tosses in the complete history of the last millennium, covering crucial turning points such as the invention of the pizza by Leonardo da Vinci and the computer by Charles Babbage (who died in 1871 still waiting to talk to tech support). Fellow Americans, the time has come to bone up with Barry as he puts the hysterical in history.

Soon after taking up his first magisterial post in the godforsaken district of Peng-lai, Judge Dee must look into the murder of his predecessor. His job is complicated by the simultaneous disappearance of his chief clerk and the new bride of a wealthy local shipowner.  

The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world in postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to...  more

The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world in postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving "a great gentleman." But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington's "greatness" and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served.

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon -- when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach -- an "outlander" --...  more

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon -- when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach -- an "outlander" -- in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord... 1743. Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life... and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire... and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

The true story of a brilliant counterfeiter who ?made? millions, outwitted the Secret Service, and was finally undone when he went in search of the one thing his forged money couldn?t buy him: family.Art Williams spent his boyhood in a comfortable middle-class existence in 1970s Chicago, but his...  more

The true story of a brilliant counterfeiter who ?made? millions, outwitted the Secret Service, and was finally undone when he went in search of the one thing his forged money couldn?t buy him: family.Art Williams spent his boyhood in a comfortable middle-class existence in 1970s Chicago, but his idyll was shattered when, in short order, his father abandoned the family, his bipolar mother lost her wits, and Williams found himself living in one of Chicago?s worst housing projects. He took to crime almost immediately, starting with petty theft before graduating to robbing drug dealers. Eventually a man nicknamed ?DaVinci? taught him the centuries-old art of counterfeiting. After a stint in jail, Williams emerged to discover that the Treasury Department had issued the most secure hundred-dollar bill ever created: the 1996 New Note. Williams spent months trying to defeat various security features before arriving at a bill so perfect that even law enforcement had difficulty distinguishing it from the real thing. Williams went on to print millions in counterfeit bills, selling them to criminal organizations and using them to fund cross-country spending sprees. Still unsatisfied, he went off in search of his long-lost father, setting in motion a chain of betrayals that would be his undoing. In The Art of Making Money, journalist Jason Kersten details how Williams painstakingly defeated the anti-forging features of the New Note, how Williams and his partner-in-crime wife converted fake bills into legitimate tender at shopping malls all over America, and how they stayed one step ahead of the Secret Service until trusting the wrong person brought them all down. A compulsively readable story of how having it all is never enough, The Art of Making Money is a stirring portrait of the rise and inevitable fall of a modern-day criminal mastermind. An Interview with Jason Kersten, author of THE ART OF MAKING MONEY Q: What compelled you to write The Art of Making Money? A: Curiosity about the crime of counterfeiting initially drew me in. Master counterfeiters? criminals who produce superior quality notes and sell them?are extremely rare. Unlike other kinds of career criminals, they are also craftsmen, and they typically learn from another master through apprenticeship. When Art Williams learned to counterfeit from a master at just 16, he was the last link in a chain of counterfeiters that went back generations. I found this so fascinating, this idea of legacy. I wanted to know how Art learned the art of counterfeiting, the dynamics of that student- teacher relationship and how it changed him. Then of course there was his pursuit of a counterfeit of the 1996 New Note, the most secure US bill ever created. It was a quest, and quests always make for great stories. While it was the world of counterfeiting that originally attracted me to Art?s story, what ultimately made a book-length project worthwhile wasn?t the crime, but the man. Art?s quest to reconnect with his father was far more compelling than his criminal escapades, and it is the conflict that arises between these two goals that gives his story so much dramatic weight. Q: How did you find Art Williams and his story? A: Art Williams actually found me. Back in 2004, the Hollywood producer Paul Pompian spent a week in Chicago scouting locations for one of his films. Paul didn?t have a car, so one of his friends loaned him a car and driver. That driver turned out to be Art Williams. As the week went by, Art kept hinting to Paul that if he really wanted to make an interesting movie, he should listen to his story. Of course, being a veteran Hollywood man, Paul hears such claims on a daily basis, so he pretty much blew Art off the entire week. On his last day in Chicago, Paul had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport. By then he had taken a liking to Art. They were both native Chicagoans, both from the streets, and in a few of the details Art revealed about his past Paul saw shades of his own memories growing up in the city. Paul offered to buy Art lunch and, grudgingly, finally listen to his story. Upon hearing that Art had learned to counterfeit at 16, Paul was shocked, and of course there was much more to the story. He thought that Art?s life might indeed not only make a good film, but an interesting book. Eventually he contacted my literary agent in the hopes of finding someone to write it. I really didn?t know what to think when my agent told me about Art. I was fascinated, but there was no way I could commit to anything without meeting Art myself. After spending an hour with him on the phone and doing a little research, I though it would at least make an interesting magazine article. The resulting article ran in Rolling Stone in July of 2005, and by then I had learned enough about Art?s story to want to write the book. Q: How much money did Art Williams counterfeit? A: By Art?s own estimate, he counterfeited about ten million dollars worth of US currency over a ten-year period. While that is quite a sum for a lone counterfeiter, the dynamics of the crime make getting rich from it a bit more complicated. Since he sold much of it for 30- cents on the dollar, he only got about third or less of the face value. Overhead, his splurging lifestyle, and the countless bills he burned because he wasn?t quite satisfied, reduced his net profit even further. Q: Have you ever seen one of Art Williams?s counterfeit bills? A: I have, though interestingly this didn?t happen until the book was almost finished. The bill, a C- note, was stuffed inside a journal sent to me by someone close to Art. This individual had tucked it in there as a memento years earlier and completely forgotten about it. Seeing it was a strange sensation. If I hadn?t spent so much time learning about both real and counterfeit currency, I wouldn?t have been able to distinguish it from a genuine bill. Holding it in my hand, I realized how easy it would be to just go spend it. Art always told me that spending his bills never felt like a crime to him, and I could see why: it was too easy to believe the bill was real. Q: While writing this book, did you have fantasies about becoming a counterfeiter yourself? A: There came a point when I realized that few people?perhaps nobody other than Art and Natalie?knew as much as I did about how Williams made his bills. At the same time, I also had intimate knowledge of the personal tragedies and sufferings that his life as a counterfeiter had caused him. That kind of knowledge tends to strip away the glamour of the crime. Even so, there have certainly been times when I?ve daydreamed about making my own bills. Those fantasies are very short-lived. The likelihood that I would wind up in prison aside, counterfeiting at Art?s level requires tremendous skill and patience, and it helps if you enjoy the work, which comes down to printing. Art always said he did it more for the challenge than the money, and I believe him. Sadly, if Art applied the same discipline to his counterfeiting to a legitimate endeavor, he would not only be successful, but free.

Together at last, in one volume, the best-loved works of Americaq's best-loved humorist. Four in one, here are: "The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank", "If Life is a Bowl of Cherries - What am I Doing in the Pits", "Aunt Erma's Cope Book - How to Get...  more

Together at last, in one volume, the best-loved works of Americaq's best-loved humorist. Four in one, here are: "The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank", "If Life is a Bowl of Cherries - What am I Doing in the Pits", "Aunt Erma's Cope Book - How to Get from Monday to Friday...in 12 Days", "Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession"

It's true, there's a ghost in the Opera House of Ankh Morpork. Sardonic, flamboyant and, well, ghostly, it wears a bone-white Mask and terrorizes the entire company, including the immortal Enrico Basilica, who eats continuously even when he's singing. Mostly spaghetti with tomato...  more

It's true, there's a ghost in the Opera House of Ankh Morpork. Sardonic, flamboyant and, well, ghostly, it wears a bone-white Mask and terrorizes the entire company, including the immortal Enrico Basilica, who eats continuously even when he's singing. Mostly spaghetti with tomato sauce. What better way to flush out a ghost than with a witch? Or even two! And Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg happen to be in Discworld's capital city trying to recruit a third (since three witches make a coven, and two make only an argument). Enter the Opera's newest diva, the alarmingly fetching Perdita X. Nitt, who has such an astonishing range that she can sing harmony with herself, and is so agreeably large that she hangs out with the elephants in the cellar. They say that inside every fat women there's a thin woman struggling to get out (or at least dying for chocolate). In Perdita's case, the thin woman is more ambitious, since she would also dearly love to be a witch. Beginning to get the picture? One would hope so. For this isn't cheese. It's opera, which runs on a Catastrophe Curve. And to further complicate matters, there is a backstage cat named Greebo who occasionally becomes a person just because it's so easy. Not to mention Granny Weatherwax's old friend, Death, whose scythe arm is sore from so much use. And who has been known to don a Mask...

If you lived at Downton Abbey, you shopped at Selfridge?s. Harry Gordon Selfridge was a charismatic American who, in twenty-five years working at Marshall Field?s in Chicago, rose from lowly stockboy to a partner in the business which his visionary skills had helped to create. At the turn of...  more

If you lived at Downton Abbey, you shopped at Selfridge?s. Harry Gordon Selfridge was a charismatic American who, in twenty-five years working at Marshall Field?s in Chicago, rose from lowly stockboy to a partner in the business which his visionary skills had helped to create. At the turn of the twentieth century he brought his own American dream to London?s Oxford Street where, in 1909, with a massive burst of publicity, Harry opened Selfridge?s, England?s first truly modern built-for-purpose department store. Designed to promote shopping as a sensual and pleasurable experience, six acres of floor space offered what he called ?everything that enters into the affairs of daily life,? as well as thrilling new luxuries?from ice-cream soda to signature perfumes. This magical emporium also featured Otis elevators, a bank, a rooftop garden with an ice-skating rink, and a restaurant complete with orchestra?all catering to customers from Anna Pavlova to Noel Coward. The store was ?a theatre, with the curtain going up at nine o?clock.? Yet the real drama happened off the shop floor, where Mr. Selfridge navigated an extravagant world of mistresses, opulent mansions, racehorses, and an insatiable addiction to gambling. While his gloriously  iconic store still stands, the man himself would ultimately come crashing down. The true story that inspired the Masterpiece series on PBS ? Mr. Selfridge is a co-production of ITV Studios and Masterpiece ?Enthralling . . . [an] energetic and wonderfully detailed biography.??London Evening Standard   ?Will change your view of shopping forever.??Vogue (U.K.)

Arch-swindler Moist Van Lipwig never believed his confidence crimes were hanging offenses -- until he found himself with a noose tightly around his neck, dropping through a trapdoor, and falling into ... a government job? By all rights, Moist should have met his maker. Instead, it's Lord...  more

Arch-swindler Moist Van Lipwig never believed his confidence crimes were hanging offenses -- until he found himself with a noose tightly around his neck, dropping through a trapdoor, and falling into ... a government job? By all rights, Moist should have met his maker. Instead, it's Lord Vetinari, supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork, who promptly offers him a job as Postmaster. Since his only other option is a nonliving one, Moist accepts the position -- and the hulking golem watchdog who comes along with it, just in case Moist was considering abandoning his responsibilities prematurely. Getting the moribund Postal Service up and running again, however, may be a near-impossible task, what with literally mountains of decades-old undelivered mail clogging every nook and cranny of the broken-down post office building; and with only a few creaky old postmen and one rather unstable, pin-obsessed youth available to deliver it. Worse still, Moist could swear the mail is talking to him. Worst of all, it means taking on the gargantuan, money-hungry Grand Trunk clacks communication monopoly and its bloodthirsty piratical head, Mr. Reacher Gilt. But it says on the building neither rain nor snow nor glo m of ni t ... Inspiring words (admittedly, some of the bronze letters have been stolen), and for once in his wretched life Moist is going to fight. And if the bold and impossible are what's called for, he'll do it -- in order to move the mail, continue breathing, get the girl, and specially deliver that invaluable commodity that every human being (not to mention troll, dwarf, and, yes, even golem) requires: hope.

It’s an offer you can’t refuse. Who would not to wish to be the man in charge of Ankh-Morpork’s Royal Mint and the bank next door? It’s a job for life. But, as former con-man Moist von Lipwig is learning, the life is not necessarily for long. The Chief Cashier is...  more

It’s an offer you can’t refuse. Who would not to wish to be the man in charge of Ankh-Morpork’s Royal Mint and the bank next door? It’s a job for life. But, as former con-man Moist von Lipwig is learning, the life is not necessarily for long. The Chief Cashier is almost certainly a vampire. There’s something nameless in the cellar (and the cellar itself is pretty nameless), it turns out that the Royal Mintruns at a loss. A 300 year old wizard is after his girlfriend, he’s about to be exposed as a fraud, but the Assassins Guild might get him first. In fact lot of people want him dead Oh. And every day he has to take the Chairman for walkies. Everywhere he looks he’s making enemies. What he should be doing is . . . Making Money!

In the remote Welsh mountain village of Gwytherin lies the grave of Saint Winifred Now, in 1137, the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the sacred remains for his Benedictine order. Native Welshman Brother Cadfael is sent on the expedition to translate and finds the rustic...  more

In the remote Welsh mountain village of Gwytherin lies the grave of Saint Winifred Now, in 1137, the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the sacred remains for his Benedictine order. Native Welshman Brother Cadfael is sent on the expedition to translate and finds the rustic villagers of Gwytherin passionately divided by the Benedictine's offer for the saint's relics. Canny, wise, and all too worldly, he isn't surprised when this taste for bones leads to bloody murder. The leading opponent to moving the grave has been shot dead with a mysterious arrow, and some say Winifred herself held the bow. Brother Cadfael knows a carnal hand did the killing. But he doesn't know that his plan to unearth a murderer may dig up a case of love and justice...where the wages of sin may be scandal or Cadfael's own ruin.

A RARE, SPLENDID, AND VERY SPECIAL VOLUME CONTAINING THE FIRST AND SECOND BROTHER CADFAEL MYSTERIES ILLUMINATED WITH A GLORIOUS ILLUSTRATED TOUR OF AUTHENTIC CADFAEL COUNTRY. One of the most memorable and best loved detectives in mystery fiction is medieval Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael...  more

A RARE, SPLENDID, AND VERY SPECIAL VOLUME CONTAINING THE FIRST AND SECOND BROTHER CADFAEL MYSTERIES ILLUMINATED WITH A GLORIOUS ILLUSTRATED TOUR OF AUTHENTIC CADFAEL COUNTRY. One of the most memorable and best loved detectives in mystery fiction is medieval Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael with his arcane knowledge of herbs both poisonous and healing and his incisive vision of the wayward human heart. Certain to become a collector's item, this double book contains the first two Brother Cadfael mysteries, along with a lush, full-color pictorial insert of the hauntingly beautiful countryside castles and cathedrals depicted in the series. x A MORBID TASTE FOR BONES (Brother Cadfael, Bk 1) n the remote Welsh mountain village of Gwytherin lies the grave of Saint Winifred. Now, in 1137 the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the sacred remains for his Benedictine order. Native Welshman Brother Cadfael is sent on the expedition to translate and finds the rustic villagers of Gwytherin passionately divided by the Benedictine's offer for the saint's relics. Canny, wise, and all too worldly, he isn't surprised when this taste for bones leads to bloody murder. The leading opponent to moving the grave has been shot dead with a mysterious arrow, and some say Winifred herself held the bow. Brother Cadfael knows a carnal hand did the killing. But he doesn't know that his plan to unearth a murderer may dig up a case of love and justice... where the wages of sin may be scandal or Cadfael's own ruin. ONE CORPSE TOO MANY ( Brother Cadfael, Bk 2) In the summer of 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes Brother Cadfael from the quiet world of his garden into a battlefield of passions, deceptions, and death. Nor far from the safety of the abbey walls, Shrewsbury Castle falls, leaving its ninety-four defenders loyal to the Empress to hang as traitors. With a heavy heart, Brother Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, only to make a grisly discovery: ninety-five dead bodies lie in a row--the extra victim has been cruelly strangled, not hanged. This ingenious way to dispose of a corpse tells Brother Cadfael that the killer is both clever and ruthless. But on death among so many seems unimportant to all but the good Benedictine. He vows to find the truth behind disparate clues: a girl in' boy's clothing, a missing treasure, and a single broken flower...the tiny bit of evidence that Cadfael believes can most expose a murderer's black heart.