Edwin stood on the bank for a long while watching the elder gentleman splash in the water. He waited patiently for some time, hoping the old man would return to the edge of the stream to reclaim the tunic lying on the rocks. Finally, he realized the old monk was waiting to see if this newcomer would enter the cold stream to join him. Edwin gritted his teeth and removed all his clothing except for a loincloth and stepped slowly into the cold water. He sucked in his breath quickly, as the cold was immediate; piercing him to the bone as he moved forward into the stream. He finally reached the old man and voiced an incoherent hello in a Tibetan dialect. There was no reply and the oldster turned toward the bank and the clothing; ignoring Edwin; giving no indication he'd heard his words. Rasske called out again as the old man slowly continued his way among the boulders toward the bank to reclaim his tunic. Finally, he splashed and stumbled to reach the old monk and grasped his arm and cried out, "Old man, please do not walk away from me. I have travelled halfway across the world to find you and to learn truth from you. Please," he begged, teeth chattering uncontrollably from the penetrating coldness of the water. The aged monk turned swiftly and grasped Edwin by the nape of the neck in a fierce grip, forcing his head under the water of the stream. As he thrashed about in the water, he could not break the grip of steel. Soon his life flashed before his eyes and he could feel his life ebbing away. The old man loosened the hold on his neck and held Edwin's head up as he retched and gagged for air.......

DIVDIVA collection of nine madcap stories following the wayfaring translator and amateur sleuth Cassandra Reilly around the globe in search of her next great mystery/divDIV Lesbian translator and part-time detective Cassandra Reilly has two thrilling investigations under her belt: the case of a missing person in Barcelona and that of a dead spa-owner in Transylvania. In this humorous and engrossing collection, Cassandra is hard at work in some of the world’s most picturesque locales, including Maui, the English moors, and the Icelandic coast./divDIV Among the vast assortment of misdeeds she’s called upon to investigate—most of which take place within the literary world—Cassandra finds ample opportunity to exercise her trademark wit and eye for irony. From “Murder at the International Feminist Book Fair,” in which the exploits of a mudslinging women’s magazine lead to a death on the floor of the convention, to “An Expatriate Death,” about a local Mexican writer who appropriates Cassandra’s identity for a character in his novel—and then promptly kills off the character—The Death of a Much-Travelled Woman is another showcase of the intrepid translator’s zest not only for globetrotting, but for wandering smack into the middle of the most unusual crimes./divDIV The Death of a Much-Travelled Woman is the third book in the Cassandra Reilly Mystery series, which begins with Gaudí Afternoon and Trouble in Transylvania, and concludes with The Case of the Orphaned Bassoonists./div/div

When governess Anna Arbuthnot arrives at Ridley Hall, she finds a house in deep mourning. Lyndon Wilder, oldest and most beloved son of Lord and Lady Charles has been killed in the Napoleonic Wars, leaving behind him a now orphaned daughter, Lottie and other undiscovered troubles. Anna finds it easy to establish a bond with her young charge, but other relationships in the house begin to strain under the weight of Lyndon's absence. When Thomas Wilder, the younger son and new heir, returns from war, he finds his family in chaos and Lyndon's legacy threatening Ridley Hall's future. As executor of his brother's will and guardian of his daughter, Thomas is forced to leave the military life he loves, and is confined to the faltering estate of his childhood. It is only with Anna's help that Thomas can save Ridley, and most crucially, protect his parents from the truth about Lyndon Wilder...

[Illustrated with over 30 photos of the author, his unit, escape, his kit etc.] As General MacArthur sailed away from the Philippines vowing to return, he left behind him many American soldiers that had been swept up by the victorious Japanese tide of invasion. One such man was Lt.-Colonel William Edwin ‘Ed’ Dyess, he and his unit of the 21st Pursuit squadron flew their obsolete P-40 Warhawks against the superior Japanese fighters until no more planes remained. Undaunted he fought on as an infantryman before his eventual capture by the Japanese his deeds of selfless bravery were legendary, including giving his own plane to a fellow aviator so he could fly to safety. Dyess and his brave men deserved a better fate than that which awaited them at the hands of their Japanese captors on the infamous Bataan Death March. Driven north from Bataan, the American and Philippino prisoners were beaten, starved and prodded at the tip of the bayonet toward prison camps that had been callously unprovided with the basic means of existence. In the only successful mass prison escape, Dyess along with his men broke out of their prison camp and made contact with resistance groups. After a time waging further Guerilla operations, Dyess and two other American servicemen were evacuated by submarine to Australia. As Dyess recuperated the American Government knowing the effect that the truth of the atrocities committed by the Japanese would galvanize public opinion allowed the release of his story via the Chicago Tribune. The story created a huge storm of outrage directed at the Japanese and of respect and admiration for Dyess and his fellow soldiers who had endured so much on their behalf. Dyess returned to active service as soon as was possible but tragically died in an airplane accident in 1943, a hero to his men and country. A tragically vivid and gruelling account of one of the most heroic escape stories yet told.

When an Anglo-Indian love triangle ended in murder, it sent shockwaves through 1950s Bombay. The Nanavati trial split Indian high-society, its effects reaching as far as the Nehru government. In modern-day London, Bhalu's dying mother leaves him a trunk of letters and a mystery: was there a second crime connected with the murder, one that has gone untold and unpunished, but that has shaped the lives of Bhalu and his family? Together with his childhood friend Phoebe, Bhalu returns to India to discover the truth, and write the last chapter of The Death of Mr Love.

Death, Gender and Ethnicity examines the ways in which gender and ethnicity shape the experiences of dying and bereavement, taking as its focus the diversity of ways through which the universal event of death is encountered. It brings together accounts of how these experiences are actually managed with analyses of a range of representations of dying and grieving in order to provide a more theoretical approach to the relationship between death, gender and ethnicity. Though death and dying have been an increasingly important focus for academics and clinicians over the last thirty years, much of this work provides little insight into the impact of gender and ethnicity on the experience. The result is often a universalising representation which fails to take account of the personally unique and culturally specific experiences associated with a death. Drawing on a range of detailed case studies, Death, Gender and Ethnicity develops a more sensitive theoretical approach which will be invaluable reading for students and practitioners in health studies, sociology, social work and medical anthropology.

Myth and the Church Augustus Caesar, Son of God, started the Christiancalendar. Moreover, he also contributed massively to thepersona of Christ, to Christianity and to the ChristianChurch. Indeed, Jesus, a Jewish prophet, was transformedin the process to become the God of Christian Europe. Augustus, the Godfather of Europe, spawned a religion aliento Rome and the world of Rome he had created. This was not the work of Augustus himself. However, Augustus was the luminary of the Roman state religion before he was transformed into the second person of the Trinity. The processes involved in these changes are followedthrough the rst four centuries of the Christian era. A brieflook at developments since highlight the Christian churchs continued inuence on the western European knowledgebase. Here you can check out your own mindset, against factors that are still crazily inuential. The cover illustration is of a restored cult gure of Augustus, one of thousands destroyed by Christian zealots let loose in 395. Most of the hood of the toga of Pontifex Maximus is missing. This example is at Thyatira, to where John sent a copy of his Revelations. All seven churches of the Apocalypse were in the Roman province of Asia. Just off the coast is the island of Samos, where Augustus lived when he was in the area. Patmos, where John wrote his Revelations during his exile there, is a bit further out in the Aegean Sea. The reverse of an Augustan aureus, on the spine, shows the winged victory standing on the globethat Augustus had installed as centerpiece of the Roman Curia. It was carried at his funeral to leadthe procession from the forum to his mausoleum. At the end of the fourth century it was removed from the Curia and reinstated three times. Finally Ambrosius, Bishop of Milan, insisted it be takenout and utterly destroyed. Rome and the world of Rome collapsed shortly afterwards. Augustus last 100 days were extremely busy. He was supposedto have suffered from the weariness of old age before then. But after ofcial functions in Rome he went to Capri for a few days, thenon to the Games in Naples, where heindulged in horse play with the athletes and on to Beneventum to review his armies, before they set off to war. His death at the old family home atNola is well documented, down totime and day. Its the year thats in dispute here. Christian historians strove to proveJesus was the Messiah by his dateof birth. They also wanted to knowwhen the Second Coming of Christwould occur. In the process they hadto alter the date of Augustus death. Much was destroyed to cover their tracks. Fortunately enough remainsin the debris to reconstruct the real chronology of the period. Surprisingly much else remainedto be unearthed. Cicero, not Herod,ordered the massacre of the innocents. Wise men from the east visited Augustus. Its all there for the digging.

This Handbook consists of 21 new essays on the nature and value of death, the relevance of the metaphysics of time and personal identity for questions about death, the desirability of immortality, and the wrongness of killing.