A former soldier turned PI solves crime in a world that's lost its magic in this brilliant sequel to actor Luke Arnold's debut The Last Smile in Sunder City.The name's Fetch Phillips—what do you need?Cover a Gnome with a crossbow while he does a dodgy deal? Sure.Find out who killed Lance Niles, the big-shot businessman who just arrived in town? I'll give it shot.Help an old-lady Elf track down her husband's murderer? That's right up my alley.What I don't do, because it's impossible, is search for a way to bring the goddamn magic back.Rumors got out about what happened with the Professor, so now people keep asking me to fix the world.But there's no magic in this story. Just dead friends, twisted miracles, and a secret machine made to deliver a single shot of murder.Welcome back to the streets of Sunder City, a darkly imagined world perfect for readers of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim...

A classic Ngaio Marsh novelYoung Rickie Alleyn had come to the Channel Islands to try to write, but village life was tedious --" until he saw the stablehand in the ditch. Dead, it seemed, from an unlucky jump.It might have ended there had Rickie not noticed some strange and puzzling things. But Rickie--™s father, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, had been discreetly summoned to the scene, and when Rickie disappeared, it was the last straw--¦

The bracing and inventive new novel of suspicions and secrecy from Herman Koch, the New York Times bestselling author of The DinnerWhen Robert Walter, popular mayor of Amsterdam, sees his wife toss her head back with laughter while chatting to one of his aldermen at a New Year’s reception, he immediately suspects the worst. Despite their long and happy marriage, Robert is convinced that Sylvia is cheating on him–with the respectable alderman who is dedicated to the environment, no less. The man who wants to spoil the capital’s skyline with wind turbines.The New Year’s reception marks the end of the “happy family” era that the mayor has enjoyed for so long. His wife and their daughter, Diana, however, are not aware of his suspicions and carry on as usual. Robert starts spending a lot of time and energy “behaving normally.” Naturally, his normal behavior is far more suspicious. Normally Robert’s not really present when he’s at home–he’s preoccupied with his phone, the newspapers, and his own thoughts. But now Robert is so sure he’ll miss the clues if he doesn’t pay attention that he starts to be almost alarmingly attentive and interested–ultimately losing himself in increasingly panicked and paranoid trains of thought.Written with Herman Koch’s trademark originality, playfulness, and edge, The Ditch is a wildly clever–and guttingly familiar–story of a man whose sadistic skill for undermining himself and his marriage comes to cost him nearly everything.  **About the AuthorHERMAN KOCH is the author of seven novels and three collections of short stories. The Dinner , his sixth novel, has been published in more than 50 countries and was the winner of the Publieksprijs Prize in 2009. He currently lives in Amsterdam.

The technological marvel of its age, the Erie Canal grew out of a sudden fit of inspiration. Proponents didn't just dream; they built a 360-mile waterway entirely by hand and largely through wilderness. As excitement crackled down its length, the canal became the scene of the most striking outburst of imagination in American history. Zealots invented new religions and new modes of living. The Erie Canal made New York the financial capital of America and brought the modern world crashing into the frontier. Men and women saw God face to face, gained and lost fortunes, and reveled in a period of intense spiritual creativity.Heaven's Ditch illuminates the spiritual and political upheavals along this "psychic highway" from its opening in 1825 through 1844. "Wage slave" Sam Patch became America's first celebrity daredevil. William Miller envisioned the apocalypse. Farm boy Joseph Smith gave birth to Mormonism, a new and distinctly American religion. Along the way, the...

As attorney Neil Hamel settles into her new house in Albuquerque's North Valley, she befriends thirteen-year-old Cheyanne Morales, who lives in a nearby trailer with her mother and her younger half-brother. Cheyanne's teenage angst is complicated by the pressures that gang culture imposes on her and her peers. Neil gets a harrowing glimpse of these pressures when a fifteen-year-old is shot to death not far from Neil's new home. The cops suspect a rival gang member, but late one night, a battered Cheyanne shows up at Neil's front door to confess that she was the shooter. The authorities are reluctant to accept Cheyanne's story—as a minor she'd get only a slap on the wrist—and Neil is dubious too, but she agrees to represent her young friend. With Cheyanne in custody, Neil uncovers chilling evidence that the girl's family and friends intend to take justice into their own hands. Only Neil and her lover, the Kid, can prevent another tragedy from playing out along the...

As particular about her horses as she was casual about her lovers, young Dulcie Harkness courted trouble — and found it in a lonely and dangerous jump. What will her death reveal? Young Roderick Alleyn (Ricky) is the object of special interest.

I've listened to all the stories of my generation, then watched 'em get sick or fade away. And it wasn't this world that killed 'em. It was the other... the memory of it." Britain, the near future. Much of the country is underwater and the government has been reduced to a group of fascist strongmen. In a rural outpost of the state, the men patrol the moors for illegals whilst the women run a self-sufficient farm to provide what all they need to survive. The living conditions are harsh, every meagre ration is grown from scratch and they must battle with inclement weather and a draconian government. As their numbers dwindle, they struggle to retain a semblance of civilisation in the face of the inevitable onset of global war. Stark and imperative, but shot through with a sense of warm compassion, Beth Steel's debut play Ditch is a clear-eyed look at how we might behave when the conveniences of our civilisation are taken away, and a frightening vision of a future that could all...

Crossing the Ditch