A MASTER OF THE MYSTERIOUSPierce was an austere and solitary figure, a magician who had dazzled and entranced audiences all over the world. Only one woman, Ryan, had guessed the pain that lay behind his art, the past he had chosen to conceal behind the flash and the glitter.His unhappy childhood had taught him to rely on nothing. Yet Ryan was determined to offer him the only truth she knew: Their love was no illusion. 

Episode #3 series "Nocturnal"Grace Elmond is one of the best known authorized necromancers in Tejarak,owner of an exclusive clinic which is increasingly lacking patients. When, on top of this, one of her employees dies in a misteryous way that looks like an attempt to frame her, she decides to take matters in her hands, and finds herself involved in more than she bargained for.Tamesis always thought that she knew her destiny and she was determined to be the absolute best Resurrector there was.But Fate had different plans. On her first heal, Tamesis runs into two mysterious men, and one of them changes everything for her.Tamesis cannot stop thinking about him or dreaming about him. Then, when the work of the Resurrectors is threatened the man returns and sets Tamesis on a path that opposes everything she was raised to believe.Something has twisted the beliefs of the Resurrectors, causing them to stray from their path and become extremists. They were supposed to save those who still had noble work to do, but instead insist that everyone deserves to live until old age.Now she needs to accept the role she was destined to have, that of the Angel of Death, healing those she can and reaping the souls of those who must die. The war between Resurrectors and those who protect the Balance is heating up.

Furnace Prison ... Where death is the least of your worries. Escape is just the beginning ... We thought we’d made it, we thought we were free. But we should have known there was no way out of Furnace. All we did was slip deeper into the guts of the prison: into solitary confinement, where the real nightmares live - the warden, the Wheezers, and something much, much worse. The clock’s ticking. Because if we don’t escape soon they will turn us into freaks - like them. For ever. In the darkness of the hole your worst nightmares come to life.

Peta has been living in London and having a great time. Then, she finds herself heading home to Australia, as her parents have gone missing whilst bush walking near the town of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains.Peta has been living in London and having a great time. Then she finds herself heading home to Australia, as her parents have gone missing whilst bush walking near the town of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains.Unsure what to do, as the search continues for her parents, Peta does manage to uncover some very interesting information about her family and finds out that, people are not always what they seem.

From an Edgar award–winning author, a psychological thriller about a crime victim who turns criminal when he goes on the run with his assailants. Middle-aged writer Walter Forestier's ordinary existence takes a turn towards violence when he is viciously attacked at home, robbed, and left bound for his wife to find him. Of course, she wants to call the police, but Walter refuses. Even more mysterious, when the burglars strike again, Walter will not testify against them. Instead, he finds himself a party to the gang leader's escape from jail, and once on the road through France with the band of thieves, Walter's life will never be the same again.Praise for Nicolas Freeling:"In depth of characterization, command of language and breadth of thought, Mr. Freeling has few peers when it comes to the international policier." —The New York Times"Nicolas Freeling . . . liberated the detective story from page-turning puzzler into a critique of society and an...

Jeff Greene was only seven when Melody, his mother, left him with his reserved, undemonstrative father, the Professor. So when she reenters his life years later with an invitation to spend the summer with her in Charleston, Jeff is captivated by her free spirit and warmth, and he eagerly looks forward to returning for another visit the following year. But Jeff's second summer in Charleston ends with a devastating betrayal, and he returns to his father wounded almost beyond bearing. But out of Jeff's pain grows a deepening awareness of the unexpected and complicated ways of love and loss and of family and friendship -- and the strength to understand his father, his mother, and especially himself.

Robert Hugh Benson was an Anglican priest who later joined the Catholic Church in the 20th century. His religious works remain influential among Christians today.

Fergusson Wright Hume, known as Fergus Hume (8 July 1859 – 12 July 1932) was a prolific English novelist. Finding that the novels of Émile Gaboriau were then very popular in Melbourne, he obtained and read a set of them and determined to write a novel of a similar kind. The result was the self-published novel The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), which became a great success. Hume based his descriptions of poor urban life on his knowledge of Little Bourke Street. He sold the English and United States rights to the novel for 50 pounds, and thus derived little benefit from its success. It eventually became the best selling mystery novel of the Victorian era, author John Sutherland terming it the "most sensationally popular crime and detective novel of the century". This novel inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the character Sherlock Holmes. Doyle remarked, "Hansom Cab was a slight tale, mostly sold by \'puffing\'." After the success of his first novel and the publication of another, Professor Brankel\'s Secret (c.1886), Hume returned to England in 1888. He resided in London for few years and then he moved to the Essex countryside where he lived in Thundersley for 30 years, eventually producing more than 100 novels and short stories. He continued to be anxious for success as a dramatist, and at one time Henry Irving was favourably considering one of his plays, but he died before it could be produced.

Solitary is the unforgettable life story of a man who served more than four decades in solitary confinement―in a 6-foot by 9-foot cell, 23 hours a day, in notorious Angola prison in Louisiana―all for a crime he did not commit. That Albert Woodfox survived was, in itself, a feat of extraordinary endurance against the violence and deprivation he faced daily. That he was able to emerge whole from his odyssey within America's prison and judicial systems is a triumph of the human spirit, and makes his book a clarion call to reform the inhumanity of solitary confinement in the U.S. and around the world.Arrested often as a teenager in New Orleans, inspired behind bars in his early twenties to join the Black Panther Party because of its social commitment and code of living, Albert was serving a 50-year sentence in Angola for armed robbery when on April 17, 1972, a white guard was killed. Albert and another member of the Panthers were accused of the crime and...

Harry Mathews's last novel is one of his most accessible—and perhaps one of his bestJohn and Paul were also visitors to the town. They were twins, as identical as can be. They wore the same clothes, chino trousers and open-neck sweaters, in John's case adorned with a faded maroon neckerchief. Both were addicted to the shellfish harvested year-round from the rocks and sands of the coast: little clams, winkles, cockles, crabs, and above all sea urchins–their dessert, as both said. They drank only McEwan's India pale ale and smoked the same thin black Brazilian cigars ...So begins the great writer Harry Mathews's final novel, The Solitary Twin, a rollicking yet incredibly moving story of two young men who come to a picturesque beach town. Seen prismatically through the viewpoints of the town's residents, they offer a variety of worldviews. Yet are they really twins or a single person?Harry Mathews, the first American member of...

Contemporary Romance

Minx Valour loves a challenge. And the biggest entertainment show of the year is offering a once in a lifetime opportunity to the winner. It’s the prize of a lifetime!Glamorous blonde, Minx Valour requires one Golden Star and she will get the opportunity to spend a week with any celebrity she chooses in the entire world. The Game Show will approach royalty, a rock star, movie star or tycoon and offer them a donation of 10 million dollars to a charity of their choice, should they accept spending a week with the winner. The shipping and property tycoon, Stanley Marx is a notorious recluse. The tormented billionaire lives in seclusion since the tragic death of his wife and son and has not been seen in public in years. Would he agree to spend a week with a perfectly groomed curvaceous model and budding journalist? Minx Valour is determined to find out what happened that fateful night ten years ago and get the scoop most journalists can only dream of!

From School Library JournalGr 7-10–Alex Sawyer, 14, is in prison for a murder he didn't commit. He tried to escape the horrors of the underground prison known as Furnace in Lockdown (Farrar, 2009), and now he must battle the nightmare that is solitary confinement. The cells open from the top through a sort of manhole cover, and they are more like coffins standing on end than cells. Alex must fight the monsters and mutants that are his captors and tormentors, including the dreaded wheezers that have gas masks sewn to what should be their faces and the vicious rat and doglike creatures that spoiled their escape attempt. Alex's friend Donavan was thought to be dead, but as it turns out is part of the horrors going on in the infirmary. There are several disturbing episodes when Alex is alone with his thoughts in his cell, and his fatalism or depression leads him to contemplate suicide. The rest of this story is fast paced and packed with nail-biting scenarios, and the gross-out factor is high in many sections. Alex is coaxed into a leadership role by some of the creatures and his friend Zee, who occupies an adjoining cell, and through their attempt at another escape, discovers what is really happening to inmates in the infirmary. This is a dark story with a dark ending, but the gritty action and compelling characters will have reluctant readers enthralled.–Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School, Loveland, CO. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. FromIn a sequel to Lockdown (2009) that is just as breathlessly paced and soaked with blood, mucus, and less savory substances, teen jailbird Alex’s escape from the futuristic underground prison and experimental lab called Furnace leads first to recapture and then to a second flight that involves frantic chases through dark caverns and tunnels, face-to-face encounters with flesh chewing human-rat hybrids, and visits to a gruesome “Infirmary,” in which prisoners are modified into hideous monsters. Readers who relish lurid imagery and melodramatic prose will continue to be riveted and left eager for the next disgust-o-rama episode. Grades 6-9. --John Peters

Lynn Shepherd’s first acclaimed novel of historical suspense, Murder at Mansfield Park, brilliantly reimagined the time of Jane Austen. Now, in this spellbinding new triumph, she introduces an unforgettable duo of detectives into the gaslit world of Dickens.London, 1850. Charles Maddox had been an up-and-coming officer for the Metropolitan police until a charge of insubordination abruptly ended his career. Now he works alone, struggling to eke out a living by tracking down criminals. Whenever he needs it, he has the help of his great-uncle Maddox, a legendary “thief taker,” a detective as brilliant and intuitive as they come.On Charles’s latest case, he’ll need all the assistance he can get.To his shock, Charles has been approached by Edward Tulkinghorn, the shadowy and feared attorney, who offers him a handsome price to do some sleuthing for a client. Powerful financier Sir Julius Cremorne has been receiving threatening letters, and Tulkinghorn wants Charles to—discreetly—find and stop whoever is responsible.But what starts as a simple, open-and-shut case swiftly escalates into something bigger and much darker. As he cascades toward a collision with an unspeakable truth, Charles can only be aided so far by Maddox. The old man shows signs of forgetfulness and anger, symptoms of an age-related ailment that has yet to be named.Intricately plotted and intellectually ambitious, The Solitary House is an ingenious novel that does more than spin an enthralling tale: it plumbs the mysteries of the human mind.This eBook edition includes two complete classic novels that are referenced in The Solitary House: Charles Dickens’s Bleak House and Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White!

Now a former homicide detective, Joe McGuire spends his days in a drug-induced haze trying to forget the brutal beating that almost cost him his life. Driven by his addiction, McGuire associates with the kind of criminals he once brought to justice.But when his ex-wife's sister is brutally murdered, McGuire finds himself the prime suspect—and unable to refute the evidence that points to him. Driven to prove his innocence, McGuire must fight his addiction, a police department biased against him, and a criminal underworld that threatens to consume him.Solitary Dancer is the fifth title in the Joe McGuire mystery series, and the fourth novel in the series to be nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. It is followed by Haunted Hearts.Praise for Solitary Dancer"...the plot, clever and complex, moves relentlessly toward a wrenching climax."—Ottawa Citizen

His Fear Will Soon Turn to Anger…. At first, Chris Buckley was simply warned. And watched. But as Chris unravels the haunting riddles of the town of Solitary, he finds that much more than the life of a town is at stake.Whether facing a pastor with a house full of skeletons or a cousin he never knew existed, Chris is forced to choose between light and darkness, life and nightmarish death. Every choice he makes reminds him that the unthinkable has already happened—and if he trusts the wrong person, it may happen again.This second book in the Solitary Tales continues Chris’s journey toward finding out who he is and what his own role is in the darkness suffocating his tiny new hometown. Filled with shocking twists, Gravestone is a tale of a teenager thrown into a battle over a town, a secret—and ultimately his own soul.About the AuthorThe author of over a dozen works of fiction, including Isolation and Ghostwriter, Travis Thrasher has been writing since he was in the third grade. His writing is known for its honesty, depth, and surprising twists. Thrasher lives with his wife and three daughters near Chicago.

Episode #3 series Nocturnal Grace Elmond is one of the best known authorized necromancers in Tejarak, owner of an exclusive clinic which is increasingly lacking patients. When, on top of this, one of her employees dies in a misteryous way that looks like an attempt to frame her, she decides to take matters in her hands, and finds herself involved in more than she bargained for.

If you're a fan of The Solitary Tales, then you will enjoy this story about Pastor Jeremiah Marsh and his wife Heidi. If you're a fan of Travis Thrasher's ISOLATION, then you will like the dread and terror inside this short little tale. If you liked GHOSTWRITER by Travis Thrasher, then you'll probably like this creepy little novella.If you haven't read any of those yet, well . . . beware.This story serves as a prequel of sorts to The Solitary Tales, or as a B-side as Travis calls it. It tells the story of Jeremiah Marsh in his first role as a youth pastor at a church in the Chicago suburbs. Even though Jeremiah and Heidi are newlyweds, something is wrong.As you will discover, something is terribly wrong . . .

The third book in the Solitary Tales series for young adults, Temptation follows the soul-wrenching twists of Chris Buckley’s journey as he heads deeper into a darkness that threatens all he loves best. As a reluctant student at Harrington High’s summer school, Chris meets a fun-loving senior girl who offers a welcome diversion from Chris’s past. Soon Chris no longer searches for the truth about the town of Solitary. He no longer tries to pierce its shadows. He no longer questions his role in its mysteries. He makes a new choice: he runs. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s running the wrong way—and is very close to being beyond any choices at all.About the AuthorTravis Thrasher is the author of more than a dozen works of fiction, including Solitary, Gravestone, Isolation and Ghostwriter. His writing is known for its honesty, depth, and surprising twists. Thrasher lives with his wife and daughters in Chicago.

She was smothered in darkness, and nothing touched her senses but she had a compulsion to go forward. Someone was waiting beyond the darkness, someone who needed her ... Her life torn apart by a sliver of amber, Meg Farmer flees to Summerbrook to marry and raise three children. When an invasion from the north forces Shess into yet another brutal conflict, Meg is wounded and her memory is erased. Now a refugee, she embarks on a journey to discover who she is. Pursued by mysterious Seers, and tormented by dreams of a trapped soul offering help, Meg brings an enigma from ancient Andrakis into her world. But at what cost?

His rebellion will be over soon.
When Chris Buckley first encountered the mysteries of creepy Solitary, North Carolina, he had little idea how far he would fall into the town’s shadows. After losing the love of his life, Chris tried to do things his way. He hunted for answers. And then he gave up trying to find them. But now Chris comes back to Solitary, knowing there’s a purpose for his being there. As he watches his place in a twisted and evil bloodline become clear, Chris waits for the last battle—and wonders who will be left when he finally makes his stand. The fourth and final book in the Solitary Tales shines light into deep darkness as Chris’s journey to Solitary comes to a dramatic close.

Volume thirteen of A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. In September 1939, war with Germany casts its long shadow over the town and countryside. Phillip Maddison, now farming in East Anglia, still stubbornly believes that Hitler's chief aim is the defence of Europe against Stalin; but he is engaged in a personal war on the 'bad lands' where his farm is situated, trying to subdue mounting debts and to create a fertile yeoman holding for his family. The portrayal of his struggles, both with himself and with the land, carry total conviction, as does the picture of his life in England until the ending of the Battle of Britain. 'This astonishing sequence. It is a major mark he is making on the modern novel.' Daily Express

A "Love Unexpected" Novel... After an intense night of passion to block out shared grief, jaded cop Kevin Manning abandons Nikki Welles, convinced she deserves more than he can ever give. He returns months later to discover she's pregnant with his child, juggling work and pregnancy alone. Nikki doesn't regret the baby she's caring but she wants nothing to do with Kevin and his apologies. It's time for Kevin to prove to Nikki he's worthy of her love and capable of creating a family. But it's up to Nikki to forgive.