The story centers on a recently divorced criminal attorney named Debra Holster. Debra relocated back to the city of New Orleans after she discovered her husband, Desmond, was having an affair with a co-worker. Debra decided to leave Desmond and moved in with her best friend, Rocky, just until the couple could dissolve the marriage, and Debra would be allowed to move back in to their home. Shortly after Debra moved in with her friend someone broke into their lakefront home and brutally attacked Rocky in her upstairs bedroom. Debra tried to rescue her friend after hearing her scream out in pain. She found her friend bleeding to death from stab wounds. Debra also became a victim of the intrusion that night at Rocky’s home, but unlike Rocky, Debra survived. She lived only by the grace of God and was left in a deep coma for six months. Debra lost her memory of what happened on that horrible night. She blocked from her mind the entire night. She finally awoke from a coma, remembering nothing. But the killer thought Debra did remember. Who could have committed such a horrible crime?

When James Chandler keys in his security code and enters his front door one morning, he thinks it is just another day. As he watches his wife and daughter scream in terror, James has no idea that he died five days earlier and that he now appears to be someone else and have that man's memories, too. As the police send him off in an ambulance to seek mental assistance, no one knows whether he is James Chandler or someone else or how he got into this situation in the first place, for that matter. When psychologist Laura Monroe is handed his strange case, she is unwittingly thrust into the dangerous world of political subterfuge and intrigue. As Laura and her boyfriend, Jordan, begin to uncover the extraordinary facts behind the case, they find themselves battling against a formidable opponent and an unscrupulous government enemies that will stop at nothing to silence her. With the prize of eternal life and complete political mastery at stake, Laura's life is in jeopardy. In this gripping thriller, Laura's only chance of survival is to track down enough hard evidence to expose a deceitful plot. But there's only one problem. Who does she confide in when she cannot trust her own government?

This juicy volume features two classic Christopher Pike thrillers: "Slumber Party" and "Weekend." This double feature of romance, betrayal, and horror is to die for.

In an empty car park, Ryan James sits in his car contemplating death. He has set up a hose pipe that is pouring carbon monoxide into the car, and his deciding whether or not to close the last window and end it all. Finally, he gets a text and decides to end his life. Detective Inspector Martin is called to the scene the next. At first she is convinced it is a simple suicide but as she looks deeper into the boy's life and his relationships she begins to wonder if someone else was involved.

July Fourth, "The Star-Spangled Banner," Memorial Day, and the pledge of allegiance are typically thought of as timeless and consensual representations of a national, American culture. In fact, as Cecilia O'Leary shows, most trappings of the nation's icons were modern inventions that were deeply and bitterly contested. While the Civil War determined the survival of the Union, what it meant to be a loyal American remained an open question as the struggle to make a nation moved off of the battlefields and into cultural and political terrain. Drawing upon a wide variety of original sources, O'Leary's interdisciplinary study explores the conflict over what events and icons would be inscribed into national memory, what traditions would be invented to establish continuity with a "suitable past," who would be exemplified as national heroes, and whether ethnic, regional, and other identities could coexist with loyalty to the nation. This book traces the origins, development, and consolidation of patriotic cultures in the United States from the latter half of the nineteenth century up to World War I, a period in which the country emerged as a modern nation-state. Until patriotism became a government-dominated affair in the twentieth century, culture wars raged throughout civil society over who had the authority to speak for the nation: Black Americans, women's organizations, workers, immigrants, and activists all spoke out and deeply influenced America's public life. Not until World War I, when the government joined forces with right-wing organizations and vigilante groups, did a racially exclusive, culturally conformist, militaristic patriotism finally triumph, albeit temporarily, over more progressive, egalitarian visions. As O'Leary suggests, the paradox of American patriotism remains with us. Are nationalism and democratic forms of citizenship compatible? What binds a nation so divided by regions, languages, ethnicity, racism, gender, and class? The most thought-provoking question of this complex book is, Who gets to claim the American flag and determine the meanings of the republic for which it stands?

This suspenseful third John Deal crime thriller from Standiford finds the Miami building contractor tangling with Chinese gangsters who are trying to move in on a scheme hatched by two Hollywood porno magnates to create X-rated films for the huge mainland Chinese market. Deal already has troubles enough?his wife, Janice, has sunk into a deep depression over the serious burns she suffered in last year's Raw Deal, and a close friend has apparently committed suicide, shortly after she has told her film-star sister, Paige Nobleman, that Paige was adopted. Deal and his tenant/pal, ex-cop Vernon Driscoll, begin investigating Paige's birth and, eventually, the friend's death, following leads that take them directly into the porno scheme and the path of some deadly Chinese gang members. Standiford, an unusually fine thriller writer who has won the Frank O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and who directs the creative writing program at Florida International University, is at the top of his game here, displaying excellent pacing and a particular affinity for action scenes. The ongoing saga of John Deal remains especially intriguing above all, however, because its author drenches each volume in the ambiguities?sometimes rewarding, sometimes nightmarish?of real life.

After a painful divorce, Blair Mallory follows a dream and opens a health club. But Nicole Goodwin, a troubled member of the club, develops a strange fixation on Blair, imitating her style and dress, even the car she drives. Then Nicole is gunned down in the club's parking lot. And Blair is the only witness to the murder. At first the police investigation concentrates on Nicole and her acquaintances, but then someone tampers with Blair's car, and sabotages her home and business. The police - including Blair's old flame Lieutenant Wyatt Bloodsworth - are baffled because these attempts, while serious, are very different in tone from Nicole's murder. Is Nicole's killer seeking to remove a troublesome witness? Or was Blair the intended victim after all?

'Both heartbreaking and heartwarming' - ***** Amazon reviewer 'Emotional, charming and uplifting' -***** Amazon reviewer A message in a bottle. One summer. A family to reunite. Lou suffers from a rare type of dementia and dies in her fifties. She leaves behind a message in a bottle, charging her husband Joe with a challenging task: he has two months to reunite their patchwork family whose members have fallen out with each other. Luckily for him, Lou has thought of everything and helps him along with a list of family activities and recipes. Slowly but surely, they all find their way back to each other: Joe's son Cyrian and his two daughters Apple and Charlotte. Cyrian's second wife who can't stand Apple because she isn't her own. Joe's stunning daughter Sarah who has lost the love of her life and seeks solace in one-night stands. But Joe is running out of time. Will his efforts pay off before it is too late? And most importantly: what's in the mysterious letter?

“A skillful amateur detective with an impressive to-do list emerges in this inventive series opener.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) For professional organizer Maggie McDonald, moving her family into a new home should be the perfect organizational challenge. But murder was definitely not on the to-do list . . . Maggie McDonald has a penchant for order that isn’t confined to her clients’ closets, kitchens, and sock drawers. As she lays out her plan to transfer her family to the hundred-year-old house her husband, Max, has inherited in the hills above Silicon Valley, she has every expectation for their new life to fall neatly into place. But as the family bounces up the driveway of their new home, she’s shocked to discover the house’s dilapidated condition. When her husband finds the caretaker face-down in their new basement, it’s the detectives who end up moving in. What a mess! While the investigation unravels and the family camps out in a barn, a killer remains at large—exactly the sort of loose end Maggie can’t help but clean up . . . Praise for the Maggie McDonald Mysteries “Abundant with friendly canine companions, from-the-hearth cooking, and banter between long-time friends, this novel serves up a chilling mystery warmed by likable characters and enviable setting.” —KRL News & Reviews “Bay Area residents will enjoy the heavy local angle.” —San Jose Mercury News “The setting is delightful . . . Maggie herself, in my opinion, is a major selling point for this new series, aside from the added value of her organizational advice.” —MiddleSisterReviews.com

National bestselling author Lucy Burdette returns to Key West for another delectable dish of secrets, intrigue, and murder. Peace and quiet are hard to find in bustling Key West, so Hayley Snow, food critic for Key Zest magazine, is taking the afternoon off for a tranquil lunch with a friend outside of town. As they are enjoying the wild beach and the lunch, she realizes that her husband Nathan’s dog, Ziggy, has disappeared. She follows his barking, to find him furiously digging at a shallow grave with a man’s body in it. Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher, identifies him as GG Garcia, a rabble-rousing Key West local and developer. Garcia was famous for over-development on the fragile Keys, womanizing, and refusing to follow city rules—so it’s no wonder he had a few enemies. When Davis is attacked in the parking lot of a local restaurant after talking to Hayley and her dear friend, the octogenarian Miss Gloria, Hayley is slowly but surely drawn into the case. Hayley’s mother, Janet, has been hired to cater GG’s memorial service reception at the local Woman’s Club, using recipes from their vintage Key West cookbook—and Hayley and Miss Gloria sign on to work with her, hoping to cook up some clues by observing the mourners. But the real clues appear when Hayley begins to study the old cookbook, as whispers of old secrets come to life, dragging the past into the present—with murderous results.