Munch Malone is one seriously inept golfer, but that hasnt dimmed his enthusiasm for the game. Now, at seventy, Munch, a high handicapper, has drawn some unlikely attentionfrom the afterlife. From on high, two golfersboth quite deceasedhave been scouring Earth on a quest to find the perfect golfer. But there are so many golfers on so many golf courses. If they are ever to play the game they both loved so much in life again, they need just the right golfer for a grand experiment from the Great Beyond. And then they find Munch. Target acquired, they settle back into their easy chairs in the great clubhouse in the sky, drinks in hand, to watch as their experiment plays itself out down on terra firmaon high-definition television, of course. Meanwhile, down on Earth, Munch is going about his life, oblivious to the role he is about to play in their game. Hes just invested in clubs that once belonged to scratch golfers his secret strategy for success in the USGA Senior Mens Amateur Championship. But his destiny to win the Open is derailed as Vegas operatives plot to steal his clubs. The escapade romps across The Greenbriers Old White Golf Course and into the hotels underground bunkeras the adventure is spiced up by sexual twists and Glocks being drawn on the course. Now, its a battle of willsboth terrestrial and heavenlyto see if Munchs destiny or his ineptitude will reign supreme.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

David Hewson is the author of the highly acclaimed Nic Costa detective series, set in Rome. In Dead Men's Socks, this exclusive short story, Hewson focuses on one of Nic Costa's colleagues, Gianni Peroni. Gianni Peroni is at a loose end – his friends and colleagues are all out of the office for a variety of different reasons. He's got nothing urgent to do but he notices that the pathologist has a busy day ahead: during the night two corpses were picked out of the Tiber. At first glance, it seems that the similarities between the two men end there. The bodies were found in different parts of the river, and it is clear once they have been identified that they come from very different walks of life. One is a wealthy psychiatrist, the other a young Roma boy with a police record for petty theft. But upon closer examination, Peroni notices something rather extraordinary. The men are both wearing exactly the same odd socks . . .

"Dead Man's Rock: A Romance" by means of Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch is a captivating story that unfolds alongside the rugged shoreline of Cornwall, mixing elements of romance, mystery, and the supernatural. The tale revolves round Dionysius Williams, a pupil looking for solitude in a secluded cottage near Dead Man's Rock. As Dionysius delves into his academic interests, he will become entangled in the neighborhood legends and eerie happenings surrounding the foreboding Dead Man's Rock. The narrative weaves a compelling tapestry of Gothic atmosphere, full of suspense and the haunting beauty of the ocean. Quiller-Couch's masterful storytelling ability is evident inside the seamless interplay of bright descriptions of the Cornish landscape and the mental intensity of the characters. The novel introduces factors of the supernatural, blurring the strains among reality and legend, as Dionysius grapples with the mysteries of Dead Man's Rock. "Dead Man's Rock" is a captivating exploration of love, journey, and the enigmatic forces that form human destinies. Quiller-Couch's wealthy prose and evocative putting immerse readers in an international wherein the coastal landscape turns into a person in itself, improving the allure of this romantic and mysterious tale.

November 1956. While the world is gripped by the Suez Crisis, investigator Lennox has more immediate concerns, like getting his life and his business back on track. So, when a woman comes into his office and hires him to follow her two-timing husband, it seems the perfect case. Straightforward, typical - if a little sordid - and most of all, legal. But as he begins to dig deeper, Lennox realizes that this is no ordinary case of marital infidelity. He finds himself caught by the police in a room with a dead body; pursued by shadowy members of the intelligence community; and once more a target of the Three Kings, the crime bosses who between them run Glasgow's underworld. Lennox must again draw on the violent, war-damaged part of his personality that he has tried to keep buried, in order to survive...

This study, based on a lifelong involvement with New Guinea, compares the culture of the Kamoro (18,000 people) with that of their eastern neighbours, the Asmat (40,000), both living on the south coast of West Papua, Indonesia. The comparison, showing substantial differences as well as striking similarities, contributes to a deeper understanding of both cultures. Part I looks at Kamoro society and culture through the window of its ritual cycle, framed by gender. Part II widens the view, offering in a comparative fashion a more detailed analysis of the socio-political and cosmo-mythological setting of the Kamoro and the Asmat rituals. These are closely linked with their social formations: matrilineally oriented for the Kamoro, patrilineally for the Asmat. Next is a systematic comparison of the rituals. Kamoro culture revolves around cosmological connections, ritual and play, whereas the Asmat central focus is on warfare and headhunting. Because of this difference in cultural orientation, similar, even identical, ritual acts and myths differ in meaning. The comparison includes a cross-cultural, structural analysis of relevant myths. This publication is of interest to scholars and students in Oceanic studies and those drawn to the comparative study of cultures.

This book takes us into the fascinating and sometimes tragic world of the boy sailors of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, fighting and dying for their country across the oceans of the world. They 'fought like young Nelsons.' The words of a schoolmaster, writing from aboard the Mars after the battle of Trafalgar, describing the valour of his pupils in the heat of battle. Made immortal by the novels of Patrick O'Brian, C. S. Forester and Alexander Kent, these boy sailors, alongside those of every other Royal Navy ship, had entered the British Navy to fight the French across every ocean of the world. There was a long-standing British tradition of children going to sea, and along the way found adventure, glory, wealth and fame. During the Napoleonic Wars, these children, some as young as eight or nine, were also fighting for the very survival of Britain. Drawing on many first-hand accounts, letters, poems and writings, this book tells the dramatic story of Britain's boy sailors during the Napoleonic Wars for the very first time.

In this tenth book in Hugh Hood's highly acclaimed series, The New Age, two linked novellas explore the transforming powers of love. In the first novella Matthew Goderich discovers that his late Uncle Philip has had a secret and emotionally rewarding romantic life. In the second novella Matthew nurses his childhood friend, Adam, through a long, painful, and terminal AIDS-induced illness. Matthew, in the first novella, is the detached observer and dogged detective who comes to understand love; in the second, he finally becomes fully engaged with the emotion of loving as he rids himself of his homophobia and learns to appreciate and embrace Adam, his lifelong friend. Matthew's emotional awakening corresponds with society's growing awareness in the early 1980s of the nature and extent of the AIDS crisis. Dead Men's Watches continues Hugh Hood's vivid portrayal of Canadian social history and teaches us that the gift of love is all that matters in the end.

From a skeleton, a skull, a mere fragment of burnt thighbone, prominent forensic anthropologist Dr. William Maples can deduce the age, gender, and ethnicity of a murder victim, the manner in which the person was dispatched, and, ultimately, the identity of the killer. In Dead Men Do Tell Tales, Dr. Maples revisits his strangest, most interesting, and most horrific investigations, from the baffling cases of conquistador Francisco Pizarro and Vietnam MIAs to the mysterious deaths of President Zachary Taylor and the family of Czar Nicholas II.