Brian Newell is an average young man, working in a coffee shop. That is, until he learns he’s the sole heir to his grandfather Alistair's fortune. A grandfather he didn't even know he had. There is a proviso, however. He has to live in his grandfather's house for one year, and take care of his macaw, before he can inherit anything. Conley Finnegan was close friends with Alistair, cataloguing his book collection and tending to his yard. He’s less than happy when he meets Brian, or so it seems. But that isn't quite the truth. Conley has a deep secret, and part of it requires Brian in his life -- but only as a friend. However, his wishes to the contrary, Conley falls in love with Brian, and vice versa. That small problem, as Conley thinks of it, will impact their lives in ways neither can imagine.

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?

The world’s most beloved mystery writers celebrate their favorite mystery novels in this gorgeously wrought collection, featuring essays by Michael Connelly, Kathy Reichs, Ian Rankin, and more. In the most ambitious anthology of its kind, the world’s leading mystery writers come together to champion the greatest mystery novels ever written. In a series of personal essays that reveal as much about the authors and their own work as they do about the books that they love, over a hundred authors from twenty countries have created a guide that will be indispensable for generations of readers and writers. From Agatha Christie to Lee Child, from Edgar Allan Poe to P. D. James, from Sherlock Holmes to Hannibal Lecter and Philip Marlowe to Lord Peter Wimsey, Books to Die For brings together the best of the mystery world for a feast of reading pleasure, a treasure trove for those new to the genre and for those who believe that there is nothing new left to discover. This is the one essential book for every reader who has ever finished a mystery novel and thought…I want more!

Eighteen-year-old Nina has gone missing, and her mother, Maggie, is desperate. She begs her friend Connie to search for her daughter, although Connie has no expertise in detective work. She reluctantly agrees to do what she can, but when it’s clear that Nina was abducted, it becomes a police investigation. Sergeant Bowering and Constable Fielding of the Brandon Police Service soon discover a number of suspects in the case, but proof is missing, and the clues are getting more confusing every day. Meanwhile, there is no sign of Nina anywhere. Should Connie stay out of it, as she is advised to do? But she made a promise to her friend; and she won’t break her word, even when it becomes clear that by persisting in her quest, she puts herself in danger.

The bodyguard becomes the hunted in To Die For, the electrifying third Travis Devine thriller from international no. 1 bestselling author David Baldacci, following The Edge and the runaway no. 1 bestseller The 6:20 Man. * * * * * Some secrets are too dangerous to keep . . . TWO SUSPICIOUS DEATHS When Dwayne and Alice Odom are killed, the police report states clearly that it was a drug overdose. So why is their daughter, who was there when they died, claiming that’s not the truth? ONE YOUNG SURVIVOR Betsy Odom doesn’t trust the police but when she finds herself in the FBI’s custody after her parents’ deaths, she knows she has to be careful. Her uncle wants to adopt her and as he is a very rich and powerful man, she wants to let him. His criminal connections, however, mean the authorities aren’t so sure. ONE MAN ON THE RUN Enter Travis Devine. Trying to escape a skilled predator who wants him dead, Devine finds himself as Betsy’s bodyguard. But when an informant is found murdered, Devine knows this job is perhaps even more dangerous than the one he’s running from . . . and the true enemy may be on his side. *The 6.20 Man, the first instalment in the Travis Devine series, was an instant New York Times bestseller w/c 31/07/2024 * * * * * KILLER TWISTS. HEROES TO BELIEVE IN. TRUST BALDACCI. 'One of the world's thriller masters' – Daily Mail 'Baldacci is still peerless' – Sunday Times 'One of the all-time best thriller authors' – Lisa Gardner 'Baldacci delivers, every time!' – Lisa Scottoline 'A master storyteller' – Associated Press 'Baldacci cuts everyone's grass – Grisham's, Ludlum's, even Patricia Cornwell's – and more than gets away with it' – People

An NSA scientist has disappeared with a deadly plague virus. Donna and Jack must find him before it is unleashed on Fantasy island. But first they'll have to deal with a nude sunbathing serial killer, a Lord of the Flies 'tween takeover, poison dart-throwing pygmies. And you call this a vacation?

A genetically engineered cure for the common cold-a simple, inexpensively grown plant-turns out to be a cure for cancer and threatens to make most other drugs obsolete. The discovery triggers a crisis of medical and corporate greed that sweeps the country as the government and the media conspire with Big Pharma to keep the miracle drug off the market. Alex Farmer, a drug-addicted doctor with a shattered life, and Cyd Seeley, a research assistant with a deadly secret, are inadvertently thrown together to protect a medical breakthrough that could change the face of healthcare forever. Amid the suspense of harrowing kidnappings, manhunts, political and corporate intrigue, Wall Street corruption, suicides, arrests and terrifying escapes-in the Montana wilderness, in the high-tech world of Houston, Texas, in the political cesspool of Washington D.C., and on a vast Indian reservation-Alex and Cyd fight to survive a perilous journey where the fate of a healthy planet hinges on the survival of a tiny seed. A critically acclaimed work of literature reviewed as one of the best new books of the year, A Cure To Die For is a timely thriller that is part adventure, part mystery and part love story; a novel about two people who stand against a broken world.

Since Josie Prescott left a high-paying job in New York to set up shop as an antiques appraiser on the rugged New Hampshire coast, her life has not gone exactly according to plan. In many ways, it's gone better: She has a booming business, good friends and neighbors, and even a promising romance. But dead bodies do seem to keep crossing her path. And now her friend Rosalie has been killed just hours after confiding a secret to Josie, leaving a bereaved twelve-year-old sister, Paige, who reminds Josie of herself when her mother died. It turns out that Rosalie had other secrets too: a mysterious treasure she told her sister she was leaving behind—and a secret admirer who now seems to be turning his creepy attention to Josie! As Josie races to solve the crime while helping Paige and trying to keep her business afloat, Jane K. Cleland brings us an irresistible new blend of coziness, crime, and collectibles.

The USA Today bestselling author of Unholy Matrimony is back with a new Lucille Mystery! This time Lucille must track down the killer of a diet guru who had a lot more to lose than just a few extra pounds. With her best friend Flo’s wedding approaching, Lucille is desperate to trim down and joins Weigh to Lose, a weight-loss program led by a clipboard-wielding harridan who’s as unattractively thin as she is shrill. When the bossy woman turns up dead with her throat slashed and a tasty-looking cannoli stuffed in her mouth, Lucille figures she got her just desserts. But when the local police come up empty-handed, Lucille sinks her teeth into the mystery and narrows the list of suspects to a husband with a wandering eye, a sexy young Swedish au pair, and a gambler deep in debt to the wrong people. Until one of the suspects becomes the victim of another gruesome murder. Afraid she’s bitten off more than she can chew and worried that she might be next on the killer’s list, Lucille puts her own neck on the line with a wild plan to trap the culprit and tip the scales of justice. “If you want a very funny murder mystery, then this book is for you. I’ve never laughed so hard while reading before.” —Goodreads, on Unholy Matrimony, Book 2 in the USA Today bestselling Lucille Mystery Series

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?