Search results for ""canongate books""

'He stretched himself. He rose. He stood upright in complete nakedness before us, and while the trumpets pealed 'Truth! Truth! Truth!' we have no choice left but confess - he was a woman.'A young man in the court of the ageing Queen Elizabeth I, the beautiful Orlando seems to belong everywhere and nowhere. One morning, Orlando awakens transformed - transported into the eighteenth century, and the body of a woman.One of the twentieth century's defining imaginings of queer identity, Orlando is a book of radical possibilities -boy and girl, past and future, nature and magic, life and history, love and literature. One of the most thrilling love letters in all literature, it trespasses thrillingly over the borders of place, time and self.

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In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines and we shiver when the cold wind blows.For over a century, the murder ballad has held a prominent place in American roots music, although its origins lie in Britain and Scandinavia. These songs tell raw stories of unrequited love, betrayal, violence, life, and death. Inspired by classics of the genre such as "Pretty Polly" and "Long Black Veil," as well as contemporary songs by Steve Earle, Nick Cave, and Gillian Welch, Erik Kriek has crafted five graphic narratives that embody the spirit of the murder ballad tradition and prove that the deepest darkness harbors tales that daylight would never tolerate.Eerie, bloody, wistful, and strange, In the Pines will lead you down to the very heart of the forest - where the wild roses grow and where the ghosts wander, their long-buried secrets unfurling in song.

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Tom Gauld has created countless iconic strips for the Guardian over the course of his illustrious career. A master of condensing grand, highbrow themes into panel comics, his weekly strips embody his trademark sense of humour while simultaneously opening comics to an audience unfamiliar with the artistry that cartooning has to offer. Funny but serious, these comics allow Gauld to put his impressive knowledge of history, literature and pop culture on full display - his impeccable timing and distinctive visual style setting him apart from the rest.This postcard set celebrates more than a decade of Gauld's contributions to the Guardian, with fifty of his most beloved strips, on everything from Samuel Beckett's sitcom pitches (such as Waiting for Kramer, a show where two men await the arrival of a man named Kramer who never comes), 'Procrastination for Creative Writers, a 10-Week Course' and 'Poetry Anthologies for People Who Don't Like Poems'. Witty and beautifully drawn, The Snooty Bookshop will make you laugh at least fifty times, guaranteed.

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Are you evil?In Making Evil, Julia Shaw uses a mix of science, popular culture and real-life examples to investigate the darker side of human nature. How similar is your brain to a psychopath's? How many people have murder fantasies? Can AI be evil? Do your sexual proclivities make you a bad person? Who becomes a terrorist? This is a surprising and wickedly entertaining exploration of a darkly compelling subject.

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When Kent Nerburn received a letter from Jennifer, a young woman questioning her calling to spend her life in the arts, the writer and artist was struck by how closely her questions mirrored the doubts and yearnings of his own youth. Nerburn resolved that he would write his own letter: a letter of welcome and encouragement to all young artists setting out on the same strange and magical journey, sharing the wisdom of a life spent working in the arts. From struggles with money and the bitterness of rejection, to spiritual questions of inspiration and authenticity, Dancing With the Gods offers insight, solace and courage to help young artists on the winding road to artistic fulfilment. Tender and joyous, it is a celebration of art's power to transform the darkest of human experience and give voice to the grandest of human hopes.

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If he is to become a man, what sort of man should Thomas Page McBee be?To find out, McBee must confront the suffering he has endured at the hands of men: the abuse he endured as a child from his father, and the violent mugging which almost killed him as an adult. Standing at the brink of the life-changing decision to transition from female to male, McBee seeks to understand these examples of flawed manhood, and reclaim his body on his own terms. Powerful, uplifting and profound, Man Alive is a story about transformation; about freedom, and love, and finding the strength to rebuild ourselves as the people we are meant to be.

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The kids (and canines) of Peanuts know a thing or two about how tough life can be. But with a philosophical approach to the trials and tribulations of growing up - from not being able to talk to the girl you like, to having an idiot brother who won't take your flawless advice - they're never short of the small comforts, and the great wisdom, that can help us get by.

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Magic Child, a fifteen-year old Indian girl, wanders into the wrong whorehouse. She is looking for the right men to kill the monster. The monster that lives in the ice caves under the basement of Miss Hawkline's yellow house.Richard Brautigan takes the reader on a heroic, magical adventure through Eastern Oregon. The Hawkline Monster confirms his place as one of the twentieth century's most exciting writers.

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Raised by his grandmother in Tennessee, Gil Scott-Heron's journey from humble beginnings to becoming one of the most uncompromising and influential songwriters of his generation is a remarkable one. In this, his heartfelt, beautifully written and posthumously published memoir, we are given bright insights into the music industry, New York, the civil-rights movement, modern America, governmental hypocrisy, Stevie Wonder and our wider place in the world. It is also a fitting testament to the generous brilliance of Gil Scott-Heron and to the Spirits that guided him.

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THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERRobert Webb tried to follow the rules for being a man: Don't cryDrink beerPlay rough Don't talk about feelingsLooking back over his life he asks whether these rules are actually any use. To anyone.

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As a teenager, Harriet Shawcross stopped speaking at school for almost a year, retreating into herself and communicating only when absolutely necessary. As an adult, she became fascinated by the limits of language and in Unspeakable she asks what makes us silent. From the inexpressible trauma of trench warfare and the aftermath of natural disaster to the taboo of coming out, Shawcross explores how and why words fail us. From the mountains of Nepal to New York's theatre district she travels the world meeting people who constantly wrestle with language. She studies the work of George Oppen, a poet who couldn't write a line for twenty-five years, interviews Eve Ensler whose play The Vagina Monologues gave voice to the truths of female sexuality, and meets the founders of The Samaritans who have been listening silently to those in need since the 1950s. A beguiling mix of memoir, history, literary criticism and investigative journalism, Unspeakable is a moving and unprecedented study of the power of silence.

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In California her name was Aden Grace Sawyer. In Pakistan she must choose a different name - Suleyman - and take on a new identity as a young man. She has travelled a long way to begin her new life, and she'll travel further to protect her secret.But once she is on the ground, Aden finds herself in more danger than she could have dreamed. Faced with violence and loss, she must make intense and unimaginable choices that will test not only her faith, but her understanding of who she is.Compelling, unnerving and timely, Godsend is a subtle masterpiece of empathy: a study of what it means for a person to give themselves to their faith, and how far they will go from home to find a place to belong.

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EVERYTHING IS MADE OF MAGIC . . .Effie Truelove and friends Lexy, Wolf, Maximilian and Raven must use their magical skills to defeat the Diberi, a corrupt organisation intent on destroying the worlds at Midwinter. But during a visit to the Otherworld, Effie is mistaken and imprisoned for being a galloglass - a dangerous, selfish islander.Can Effie and her friends reunite before total destruction is wreaked upon the universe?

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The Missing of the Somme has become a classic meditation upon war and remembrance. It weaves a network of myth and memory, photos and films, poetry and sculptures, graveyards and ceremonies that illuminate our understanding of, and relationship to, the Great War.

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The women of the tiny town of Fetter-Rothnie have grown used to a life without men, and none more so than the tangle of mothers and daughters, spinsters and widows living at the Weatherhouse. Returned from war with shellshock, Garry Forbes is drawn into their circle as he struggles to build a new understanding of the world from the ruins of his grief.In The Weatherhouse Nan Shepherd paints an exquisite portrait of a community coming to terms with the brutal losses of war, and the small tragedies, yearnings and delusions that make up a life.

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From the grimly gothic Not to Disturb to the razor-sharp dissection of manners The Takeover and the mordantly brilliant The Only Problem, in a panoramic sweep taking in the shores of the Italian lakes to the castles of Geneva, Muriel Spark casts her unflinching gaze over the continent and onto some of the odder specimens of human nature abounding there. By turns savage, witty and profound, Spark's Europe reaffirms Muriel Spark as one of the most important novelists of the twentieth century.

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'I loved Fear of Dying. I found it irreverent, funny, tender and very wise and it made me feel more alive' RACHEL JOYCE, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry Vanessa Wonderman is smart, sexy - and sixty. After a lifetime of crazy families, New York high society and playing a soap opera archvillain bitch, she's not ready to give up yet.But life's not so carefree any more. Her parents are dying, her husband's in hospital and her wild-child daughter is pregnant.So when she signs up to a casual encounters site, she's thinking of leaving her wifelife behind - at least for a little bit. However, the most painful parts of your past always have away of surprising you. Will she learn in time how to live, how to love, how to be fearless?

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A collection of previously unpublished letters from America's cult icon on the art of writing.Charles Bukowski was one of our most iconoclastic, raw and riveting writers, one whose stories, poems and novels have left an enduring mark on our culture. On Writing collects Bukowski's reflections and ruminations on the craft he dedicated his life to. Piercing, unsentimental and often hilarious, On Writing is filled not only with memorable lines but also with the author's trademark toughness, leavened with moments of grace, pathos and intimacy. In the previously unpublished letters to editors, friends and fellow writers collected here, Bukowski is brutally frank about the drudgery of work and uncompromising when it comes to the absurdities of life and of art.

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A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICKOne relentlessly hot summer, six children explore the scorched wheat fields that enclose their tiny Italian village. When the gang find a dilapidated farmhouse, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano makes a discovery so momentous that he dare not tell a soul. It is a secret that will force Michele to question everything and everyone around him, and will bring his innocent world toppling down. An unputdownable thriller, I'm Not Scared has become a contemporary classic in Italian literature, read and celebrated the world over.

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A life in the spotlight will keep anyone hidden.Julia Pastrana is the singing and dancing marvel from Mexico. She is heralded across nineteenth-century Europe as much for her talent as for her unusual looks. Yet few can see past her freakish appearance to the ambitious woman within. Orphans of the Carnival sweeps us from the music halls of Vienna to an attic in modern-day South London, playing out an epic tale of grit, love, music and the triumph of the human spirit pushed to extremes.

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It's 4 a.m. and Cathy Mason is watching dawn break over the Lovelace estate. By the end of the day, her community will be a crime scene. By the end of the week, her city will be on fire.In this gripping thriller, a death at police hands has repercussions far beyond one family plunged into grief. When violence grips Cathy's estate, the dead man becomes a useful tactic (or an urgent threat) in political games at the highest level. So while lives are at risk on Cathy Mason's estate, across London in Westminster, careers are being made, or ruined. From a Home Secretary's attempts to unseat a Prime Minister, to a new Met Police Commissioner fighting for his job, to families torn apart, Ten Days shows what happens when politics, policing and the hard realities of living in London explosively collide.

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From the author of the international bestseller GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP comes a book about the other great parental frustration: getting your little angel to eat something that even vaguely resembles a normal meal. Profane, loving and deeply cathartic, YOU HAVE TO FUCKING EAT breaks the code of child-rearing silence, giving new, old, grand- and expectant parents a much-needed chance to laugh about a universal problem.**(You probably shouldn't read it to your children.)

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'Timeless, funny and utterly absorbing' HILARY MANTELIn April 1925 at the age of fifteen, Jean Lucey Pratt started a journal that she kept until just a few days before her death in 1986, producing over a million words in 45 exercise books. What emerges is a portrait of a truly unique, spirited woman and writer. Never before has an account so fully, so honestly and so vividly captured a single woman's journey through the twentieth century.

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TRUE HONOUR IS ENDLESS.1935. Norfolk. War is looming in Great Britain and the sprawling country estate of Alderberen Hall is shadowed by suspicion and paranoia. Alderberen's newest resident, Delphine Venner, is determined to uncover the secrets of the Hall's elite society, which has taken in her gullible mother and unstable father.As she explores the house and discovers the secret network of hidden passages that thread through the estate, Delphine unearths a world more dark and threatening than she ever imagined. With the help of head gamekeeper Mr Garforth, Delphine must learn the bloody lessons of war and find the soldier within herself in time to battle the deadly forces amassing in the woods . . .

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Richard Brautigan's wonderfully zany, hilarious episodic novel set amongst the rural waterways of America.Here's a journey that begins at the foot of the Benjamin Franklin statue in San Francisco's Washington Square, wanders through the wonders of America's rural waterways and ends, inevitably, with mayonnaise. With pure inventiveness and free-wheeling energy, the counterpoint to all those angry Beatniks, Brautigan tells the story of rural America, and the hunt for a bit of trout fishing. Funny, wild and sweet, Trout Fishing in America is an incomparable guidebook to the delights of exploration - of a country and a mind.

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Jesse and Lee share a house owned by a very nice Chinese dentist, where it rains in the hall. They move to cabins on the cliffs at Big Sur where the deafening croaks of frogs can be temporarily silenced by the cry, 'Campbell's Soup'. Ultimately, we learn how the frogs are permanently silenced . . . and dreams disperse around a fire into 186,000 endings per second. In anticipating flower power and the ideals of the Sixties, Brautigan's debut novel was at least a decade before its time and remains a weird and brilliant classic.

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Feilamort can remember very little of his childhood before he became a choir boy in the home of the Laird and his French wife. Feilamort has one of the finest voices in the land. It is a gift he believes will protect him . . . Deirdre has lived in the castle all her short life. Apprentice to her mother, she embroiders the robes for one of Scotland's finest families. She can capture, with just a few delicate stitches, the ripeness of a bramble or the glint of bronze on a fallen leaf. But with her mother pushing her to choose between a man she does not love and a closed world of prayer and solitude, Deirdre must decide for herself what her life will become.When the time comes for Feilamort to make an awful decision, his choice catapults himself and Deirdre head-first into adulthood. As the two friends learn more about Feilamort's forgotten childhood, it becomes clear that someone close is intent on keeping it hidden. Full of wonder and intrigue, and told with the grace and charm for which Anne Donovan is so beloved, Gone Are the Leaves is the enchanting story of one boy's lost past and his uncertain future.

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Why is it good to be grumpy if you want to avoid getting ripped off? Why do we think coins are bigger than they really are?Why is it a mistake to choose the same lottery numbers every week? Join award-winning psychologist and BBC Radio 4 presenter Claudia Hammond as she delves into big and small questions around the surprising psychology of money. Funny, insightful and eye-opening, Mind Over Money will change the way you think about the cash in your pocket and the figures in your bank account forever.

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Gray argues that a truly independent Scotland will only ever exist when people in every home, school, croft, farm, workshop, factory, island, glen, town and city feel that they too are at the centre of the world. Independence asks whether widespread social welfare is more possible in small nations such as Norway and New Zealand than in big ones like Britain and the U.S.A. It describes the many differences between Scotland and England. It examines the people who choose to live north of the border. It shows Scotland's relevance to the rest of the world. It attempts to conjure a vision of how a Scots parliament might benefit the people of this small but dynamic nation. And it tells how democracy will only truly succeed when every person believes that their vote will make a difference.

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The first in the enchanting new Magical Menagerie mystery series where things are not always what they seem. Georgie Johansen returns to the charming, coastal town of Twilight Cove and quickly finds herself in a whirlwind of romance, magic and murder! It''s been years since screenwriter Georgie Johansen last visited her Aunt Olivia''s farm in the coastal town of Twilight Cove and things have certainly changed. First of all it''s now an animal sanctuary, and then there''s the new farmhand who''s as mysterious as he is handsome. Her first day on the farm, Georgie encounters the eccentric Dorothy Shale, an older woman who lives in a cabin in the woods. There are rumours that Dorothy''s a witch, but Georgie doesn''t believe that. Although, Dorothy does have an unusual magical presence around her . . . When Dorothy ends up murdered, suspicion falls on Georgie - she was the one who found the poor woman''s body, and being new in town doesn''t help with the sus

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Armchair travellers and foodies, rejoice! Booklist Starred Review on Murder on the Spanish SeasSagarine Pfister is a great cook but has been blacklisted by almost every restaurant in Chicago. She gets her chance at Louie''s, a below-average restaurant, the only place that will give her a job.Things change when she finds head chef Louie Ferrar dead in the walk-in freezer of his restaurant. But instead of closing the place down, the owner, Russian gang boss Anatoly Morzov, not only offers her Louie''s job, but also the position as his personal chef. Sagarine agrees, and while she knows she''s playing with fire, the chance to turn out extraordinary food at both the restaurant and for Morzov''s extravagant private parties is just too tempting.While the Chicago P.D. searches for Louie''s killer, the FBI pressures Sagarine to inform on the gang. She has no choice, but things take another dangerous turn when she falls for one of Morzov''s lieutenants. As Saga

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Octogenarian former sheriff Bill Gastner and Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman investigate a puzzling double murder in this twisty, page-turning instalment in the critically acclaimed Posadas County mystery seriesIf you haven''t yet discovered these wonderful mysteries, you are in for a treat! Anne Hillerman, New York Times bestselling authorThe morning after his eighty-seventh birthday bash, former Posadas County sheriff Bill Gastner drives past a couple of vehicles stopped on the highway shoulder. It''s not an unusual sight: a sheriff''s patrol unit, emergency lights ablaze, pulled in behind a pickup truck. The female deputy hasn''t radioed for backup. But there''s something about the scene that makes him feel uneasy.The next day, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is called to a rather more dramatic and disturbing roadside scene, with the same truck the star of the show. But this time, its occupant is in no fit state to talk - hi

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Eccentric antiques dealer and amateur sleuth Vivian Borne finds herself in jail - again! - when a podcast star is found dead in her hotel room in this new Trash ''n'' Treasures cozy mystery - one of the funniest cozy series going (Ellery Queen Magazine)When popular podcaster Nicole Chatterton wants an interview for Killers Caught, true-crime author Vivian Borne is overjoyed. Finally, some recognition for the sleuthing skills the septuagenarian antiques dealer and her daughter Brandy have demonstrated, solving countless crimes in their small hometown of Serenity, Iowa!Dolled up and dressed to the nines, Vivian figures the interview is going swimmingly . . . until Nicole turns the tables, accusing the mother/daughter duo of committing the very crimes they solved. Shocked and affronted - and with a spiteful tirade captured by the cameras - Vivian breaks off the interview, ejecting the rude podcaster from the premises of the Trash ''n'' Treasu

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Superb. . .a fast-moving and gripping plot Publishers Weekly Starred Review of The Merchant MurderersMarch, 1557. Jack Blackjack is back in London and enjoying a sedentary life - after his treacherous voyage back to his beloved city the previous year, he desires nothing more than the simple pleasures - women, wine, beer and more women.But his new parish of St Helen''s has different ideas for him. . . a week after first laying eyes on the tempting Miss Rachel Nailor, she turns up horribly dead on the church vestry floor. . . and someone is trying to frame him for her murder!A fellow Lady Elizabeth sympathiser, it appears Rachel Nailor was a woman with many secrets. But was she murdered in a fit of lustful rage, or was it part of a wider political play? Who would want Rachel dead - and Jack hanged for it? The suspects are plenty and Jack is running out of time. With his master breathing down his neck, and old foes crawling o

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Trouble hits an animal feed store in a small Texas town, leading Chief of Police Samuel Craddock to uncover jaw-dropping secrets stretching back thirty years as he grapples to solve a deadly mystery.Chief of Police Samuel Craddock is perplexed by increasingly troubling events at Granger''s Feed Store. The shop''s owner, Melvin Granger, recently had a stroke, and his son, Mark, has moved back to the small Texas town of Jarrett Creek to look after him and run the business. But it seems that some town folk are against Mark''s plans to renovate and modernize the popular animal feed store . . . Could a devastating fire be linked to an attack on Mark and the threatening phone calls he''s been receiving?When the mummified body of a man originally from Jarrett Creek is found in the scorched shop, Craddock''s investigation takes a sudden deadly turn. Who is determined to stop the renovation at any cost, and why? As Craddock investigates, he unearths explosive se

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Dr Claire Roget''s patient may have told her last lie, but can the truth about her death be uncovered?Poppy Kelloway was a liar. Forensic psychiatric Claire Roget''s patient made up ''facts'' that damaged families, destroyed relationships and even resulted in a suicide. Poppy left a trail of human misery in her wake, but when she''s found murdered in her home by her two teenage sons, the savage nature of the attack is shocking, as is the discovery of a torn appointment card for her next meeting with Claire. Could there be a connection between the murderer and Claire''s clinic, and is she in danger? Claire and Detective Sergeant Zed Willard must navigate dangerous minds and a terrible betrayal in their quest to uncover the chilling truth.

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Will the truth pull them under? A twisty, gripping mystery from a multi-award-winning master of suspense that you won''t be able to put down . . .Tabitha Muir returns to her childhood home in the remote hills of Hiskith in Scotland after twenty years away. She''s lost her job, her house, and custody of her son after a divorce, and thinks this must be rock bottom - but worse is to come. An unplanned explosion at the dam on the loch and the suspicious death of her beloved cousin Davey force Tabitha to confront her past demons. Is Davey''s death just another dark episode in the Muir family''s scandalous history? As Davey''s closest friends, Gordo and Barrett, help Tabitha try to answer the many questions around Davey''s demise, Tabitha discovers that nothing she thought she knew about herself and those around her is true . . . The trio are about to bring Hiskith''s darkest secrets to the surface, but will the truth destroy them?

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Don''t give up, Erin. I''m waiting for you. Find me.What happened to Gina Washington? Twelve-year-old Erin''s world was turned upside down twenty years ago when her mother suddenly vanished and never returned.Arriving at the Seafarer''s Rest B&B in the coastal resort of Pacific Grove in California for a much-needed vacation, Erin is stunned to learn that her mother stayed at the inn shortly after disappearing all those years ago, and makes a disturbing discovery in the grounds. Did Gina lay clues in the hope that Erin would one day try to find her? Drawn into a life-changing quest to unravel the truth, Erin uncovers deception, conspiracy and passion. But as she finally starts to find answers to the many questions around her mother''s disappearance, Erin''s own life is in grave danger . . .

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Washington, D.C.-based photojournalist Sophie Medina is not a murderer - but someone is determined to make sure she goes down for a crime she did not commit in this gripping mystery.When billionaire philanthropist and art collector Robson Blake hires Sophie Medina to take photographs for him, she doesn''t expect to show up and find her client dead. It seems he was the victim of a burglary gone wrong. But why was his state-of-the-art security system turned off . . . and why, in a house full of priceless Old Masters, is the only thing missing a beautiful but insignificant Ukrainian religious icon?Before long, Sophie finds herself in the crosshairs of a D.C. homicide detective who suspects she knows more than she is saying about Blake''s murder - and he''s not wrong. To Sophie''s mixed delight and horror, she''s recently learned she has a half-brother . . . who might also be an international art thief, with eyes on Blake''s collection.As the police get cl

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Ellen Curtis - professional declutterer, amateur sleuth and woman of a certain age - investigates the puzzling death of a TV personality who''s past his primeProfessional declutterer Ellen Curtis doesn''t need to like her clients to help them sort their homes out. Aging TV personality and curmudgeon Humphrey Carter might have a chip on his shoulder the size of England about the decline of his career, but a job''s a job.But when Ellen arrives the morning after Humph''s eightieth birthday party, primed and ready to tackle his study - no matter his protests - she gets the shock of her life. Humph''s dead . . . and all signs point to him having taken his own life.Did the egotistical chat show host really die by suicide? His wife is adamant he''s been murdered, and the more Ellen looks, the more dirt on Humph she digs up . . . and the more suspects she uncovers. Can she track down a killer - if there even is one? And, just as importantly, can

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I know my husband is dead. I just don''t know whether I killed him . . .Charles and I were law students when I fell for him. He was handsome, charming, sure of himself - and he deigned to look at me. We had a dream-come-true courtship, wedding, and honeymoon, all orchestrated and paid for by his wealthy parents. Then he brought me home . . . And I woke up.Nineteen months and a baby later, I''m standing in our pristine living room, looking at Charles lying in a pool of blood. I don''t remember how I got here. The police are bound to think I killed him. But I didn''t . . . did I?

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