One dark night an eccentric resident in Matthew’s small town is beaten to death… Young family physician Matthew Paine is called to the scene of the murder. Having signed on as a medical consultant with the police department, he always honors his commitments. Three boys found the body when one of them tripped over his feet. Matthew is certain the boys know more than they’re saying and he challenges their perception that the odd victim was a specter. That’s difficult because much of the town believes that the iconic resident’s historic family home is haunted. Nobody thought he would ever hurt anyone, though, so who would want to kill him? Is there still a killer lurking in the small town of Peak? Matthew determines to find out and restore the safety of the town. Can he find a key to unlocking the case that the police can’t? You’ll love Prefer Death – the haunting second book in Lee Clark’s Matthew Paine Mystery series – because everyone enjoys a classic mystery with twists and turns and a spooky old house. Get it now.

In this engaging volume, Daniel Gardner explains the way in which the Four Books--Great Learning, Analects, Mencius, and Maintaining Perfect Balance--have been read and understood by the Chinese since the twelfth century. Selected passages in translation are accompanied by Gardner's comments, which incorporate selections from the commentary and interpretation of the renowned Neo-Confucian thinker, Zhu Xi (1130-1200). This study provides an ideal introduction to the basic texts in the Confucian tradition from the twelfth through the twentieth centuries. It guides the reader through Zhu Xi's influential interpretation of the Four Books, showing how Zhu, through the genre of commentary, gave new coherence and meaning to these foundational texts. Since the Four Books with Zhu Xi's commentary served as the basic textbook for Chinese schooling and the civil service examinations for more than seven hundred years, this book illustrates as well the nature of the standard Chinese educational curriculum.

We live in an age uniquely attentive to the problem of mental illness. More than half of us will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in our lifetime. It has been easy, for centuries, to relegate persistent emotional and mental struggles entirely to the realm of a failed personal work ethic ("Just don't worry so much!"), not enough faith ("Just pray harder!"), or, in recent years, a chemical imbalance in our brains ("Just take this pill!"). Yet, for those of us who live with mental illness, none of these suggestions provides the quick relief it promises, and the continued struggle takes its toll on our already burdened hearts and minds. In All Who Are Weary, Emmy Kegler joins the reader on the long walk of reflection, understanding, and compassion, calling followers of Jesus back to ancient practices of lament, vulnerability, honesty, community, and hope. This book is not a map to a cure, nor a perfectly restorative prayer. Written with a wide community in mind--patients, but also parents and partners, coworkers and friends, pastors and therapists, and the whole church--All Who Are Weary points to the embodied grace known in Jesus, trusting in the promise of a lighter load for all.