The Darkness

The Darkness

Ragnar Jónasson

Ragnar Jónasson

Spanning the icy streets of Reykjavik, the Icelandic highlands and cold, isolated fjords, The Darkness is an atmospheric thriller fromone of the most exciting names in Nordic Noir.The body of a young Russian woman washes up on an Icelandic shore. After a cursory investigation, the death is declared a suicide and the case is quietly closed.Over a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police is forced into early retirement at 64. She dreads the loneliness, and the memories of her dark past that threaten to come back to haunt her. But before she leaves she is given two weeks to solve a single cold case of her choice.She knows which one: the Russian woman whose hope for asylum ended on the dark, cold shore of an unfamiliar country. Soon Hulda discovers that another young woman vanished at the same time, and that no one is telling her the whole story. Even her colleagues in the police seem...
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Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts

Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts

Mary Gibson

Mary Gibson

'Mary Gibson is going to go a long way... a really good read' Dee Williams.Heartwarming and gritty, the story of a factory girl in Bermondsey through World War 1.They call them custard tarts - the girls who work at the Pearce Duff custard and jelly factory. But now the custard tarts are up in arms, striking for better conditions. Among them is Nellie Clark, trying to hold her family together after the death of her mother. She has the most desperate struggle to make ends meet, often going hungry to feed her little brothers.Two men vie for Nellie's love. One is flamboyant, confident and a chancer. The other is steady, truthful and loyal. But the choice is not as easy as it might seem.Looming over them all - over Bermondsey, over the factory, over the custard tarts and their lives and loves - is the shadow of the First World War. And that will change everything and everyone.
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Lone Star Ranger #3

Lone Star Ranger #3

James J. Griffin

James J. Griffin

When Captain Quincy's company of Rangers is ordered to the Big Bend, Nate has no choice but to ride with them. It appears his odds of finding the men who murdered his family grow more distant with each passing mile. But a chance encounter with a patrol of buffalo soldiers provides the first solid lead as to the gang's whereabouts—and Captain Quincy's Rangers make a detour to find the pale-eyed demon whose gang has been responsible for so many deaths. Will Nate and his Ranger companions finally catch up with the killers? Nate's gut feeling says they will—but who will survive?
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The Shadow of Ararat

The Shadow of Ararat

Thomas Harlan

Thomas Harlan

Amazon.com Review Thomas Harlan's impressive first novel, The Shadow of Ararat, delivers big-screen entertainment. It's an alternate history with babes, battles, and believable magic theory and technology, not to mention political intrigue and major spectacle. The Roman Empire has reached our 7th century without falling or becoming Christian. Galen Atreus, Emperor of the West, and Heraclius, Emperor of the East, join forces to overthrow Chroseos II, Emperor of Persia. The book follows four major characters. Dwyrin MacDonald, a young Irishman learning sorcery, is prematurely initiated and sent to fight with the Roman army, though he can barely control his gift for calling fire. The Roman Thyatis Julia Clodia, a covert warfare specialist, leads her unit behind enemy lines. Ahmet, an Egyptian priest/sorcerer at Dwyrin's school, sets out to rescue Dwyrin but meets Mohammed (yes, that Mohammed). They join Roman allies Nabatea and Palmyra, desert cities facing superior Persian forces without Roman aid. Finally, Maxian Atreus, Galen's youngest brother, a healer-magician, discovers a "curse" protecting the State from inimical magic but also preventing nonmagical progress. He sets out to lift it at any cost, resurrecting canny Julius Caesar and searching for Alexander the Great--an even greater source of magical power.
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Meant to Be

Meant to Be

Pierson, Cheryl

Pierson, Cheryl

~ Western Romance/Time-travel novelette ~ Robin Mallory decides to surprise her aunt and uncle several hours away for Christmas. A flat tire and a snowstorm on the way changes her plans. Confederate officer Jake Devlin is shocked when the spy he jumps turns out to be an oddly dressed girl with strange ideas. Who is she? Is it possible for love to span centuries? It is, if it was MEANT TO BE…
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A Change of Fortune

A Change of Fortune

Jen Turano

Jen Turano

Rollicking Debut from an Exciting New AuthorLady Eliza Sumner is on a mission. Her fortune was the last thing she had left after losing her father, her fiance, and her faith. Now, masquerading as Miss Eliza Sumner governess-at-large, she's determined to find the man who ran off with her fortune, reclaim the money, and head straight back to London. Mr. Hamilton Beckett, much to his chagrin, is the catch of the season, and all the eyes of New York society—all the female ones, at least—are on him. He has no plans to marry again, especially since his hands are full keeping his business afloat while raising his two children alone.Eliza's hapless attempts to regain her fortune unexpectedly put her right in Hamilton's path. The discovery of a common nemesis causes them to join forces and, before she knows it, Eliza has a whole retinue of people helping her. Eliza's determination not to trust anyone weakens when everyone's antics and bumbling efforts to assist her make her...
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The Mailman

The Mailman

Bentley Little

Bentley Little

Once upon a time, waiting for the mail was filled with warm anticipation. But there's a new mail carrier in town, one who's delivering lethal letters stuffed with icy fear. Now nothing--not even the most outstanding citizens or the most secret weaknesses--is safe from the sinister power of this malicious mailman! Amazon.com Review It's the first day of summer in a small American town. We meet a school teacher, his wife, and their young son, Billy. One thing, one seemingly minor thing, goes wrong. And all that was safe and ordinary slowly unravels into nightmare. This familiar premise for the contemporary horror novel has rarely, if ever, been developed so brilliantly as in Bentley Little's  The Mailman . A tall, pale postal carrier with carrot-red hair may seem an unlikely candidate for the embodiment of evil, but Little reveals the personality behind the mailman's ever-present smile with such finesse, you'll be more than happy to fall under his spell. By the time the frightened town folk are chanting, "No mail! No mail! No mail! No mail!"--and Billy ends up half-naked in a dark room, next to a soiled wedding dress--you'll be jumping right out of your skin.
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This Is How I Save My Life

This Is How I Save My Life

Amy B. Scher

Memoir / Self Help / Spirituality

The true story of a fiery young woman's heartwarming and hilarious journey that takes her from near-death in California to a trip around the world in search of her ultimate salvation. Along the way, she discovers a world of cultural mayhem, radical medical treatment, and, most importantly, a piece of her life she never even knew she was missing.When Amy B. Scher was struck with undiagnosed late-stage, chronic Lyme disease, the best physicians in America labeled her condition incurable and potentially terminal. Deteriorating rapidly, she went on a search to save her own life—from the top experts in Los Angeles and the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis to a state-of-the-art hospital in Chicago. After exhausting all of her options in the US, she discovered a possible cure—but it was highly experimental, only available in India, and had as much of a probability of killing her as it did of curing her. Knowing the risks, Amy packed her bags anyway and flew across...
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The Medusa Stone pm-3

The Medusa Stone pm-3

Jack Du Brul

Jack Du Brul

In the tiny African nation of Eritrea, the American spy satellite Medusa has crashed but not before its sensors revealed an underground kimberlite pipeline, the telltale sign of a huge load of diamonds. The mine turns out to be King Solomon’s Lost Mine , but with it is a tale of heartbreak — it was children who worked and died in the mine for 400 years, leading to many local myths of curses. It is also practically on the border with a very unfriendly Sudan. Throw in two warring Israeli factions, a hidden monastery guarding an ancient secret, an evil Italian businessman with his own army, and an incredible amount of derring-do and you have one terrific action novel. In The Medusa Stone by Jack DuBrul readers will find an intricate tale filled with action and intrigue. DuBrul is only thirty years old but he is already being compared to the very best in the spy and thriller genre.
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Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton

Simon Callow

Simon Callow

The creator of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Henry VIII and Captain Bligh, Charles Laughton's career spans 50 films and 40 stage roles. This entralling biography follows him from his parents' hotel in Scarborough to his climactic assumption of the role of King Lear in Statford at the end of his life. Along the way we meet a galaxy of Hollywood greats - from Korda, Hitchcock and Billy WIlder to Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. We also discover a hugely talented and complex man - a legend in his own lifetime who nonetheless counted himself a failure.
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Beacon Street Mourning

Beacon Street Mourning

Dianne Day

Dianne Day

Five years ago Caroline Fremont Jones fled the proper world of her native Boston for the independent life of a California private detective. But now, in the winter of 1909, she is grief-stricken to learn of her father's grave illness. Still hampered by half-healed injuries from her last adventure -- but buoyed by her ever-deepening affection for her partner in love and work, Michael Kossoff -- Fremont leaves sunny San Francisco for the ice-edged air and handsome mansions of Beacon Street.Her visit has scarcely begun when her father, suffering from a malady not even his doctor can diagnose, takes a turn for the better ... only to die suddenly in the middle of the night. Fremont is certain her odious stepmother, Augusta, somehow caused her father's death. But how? And did she have an accomplice? Michael questions Fremont's suspicions ... until an exotic piece of evidence and a second, violent death trigger an investigation that draws upon childhood...
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Waiting For the Day

Waiting For the Day

Leslie Thomas

Leslie Thomas

Mid-winter, 1943. Britain is gripped by intense cold and in the darkest days of the war. It is six months before D-Day and the battle to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe. RAF officer Martin Paget is returning home for Christmas He has been on covert operations in France and knows he has to return there. While in England, he rediscovers a passion that he thought was long over. In a freezing hut on Salisbury Plain, Sergeant Harris's mind is occupied by questions of just how his young and ebullient wife is coping with their separation. His troops are training for landing on the shores of Normandy. US officer Harry Miller arrives in Somerset where his American division has set up its headquarters. His affair with an Englishwoman is both bittersweet and potentially dangerous. Enjoying fishing off the coast of occupied Jersey is German cook sergeant Fred Weber. He believes he has found a sort of peace in the midst of the terrible conflict. But his calm is soon to be shattered as...
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