♥ A nobleman and a common girl♥ A close-knit, meddling family♥ A trunkful of jewelry♥ A dastardly kidnapping♥ Steamy romance! From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Royal comes the first novel in her beloved series featuring the "outrageously funny, loyal, compassionate, and unconventional" Chase family. Descended from generations of jewelers, Amethyst Goldsmith loves her craft nearly as much as she loves her family. But she hates that her wedding is mere days away. Amy is promised to her father's small-minded apprentice, the last man on earth she could ever love, honor, or especially obey. But the date is set, the dress is ordered, and there's no way out—until the devastating Great Fire of 1666 sweeps through London, shattering her workaday world and recasting her fate... Colin Chase, the Earl of Greystone, doesn't believe in fate. He believes in hard work...

Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time with her works outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible. She is regarded by generations of fans as the greatest mystery writer ever, and her novels are read and cherished the world over.Clarissa, the young wife of a Foreign Office Diplomat, delights in tweaking the sensibilities of her more serious friends and for playing a game she calls "supposing" - imagining a difficult situation and figuring out how people would respond. But Clarissa's lighthearted game becomes deadly serious when she discovers the dead body of an unknown person in her own drawing room. If that wasn't bad enough, her husband is on the way home with an important foreign politician and the attendant scandal of the dead body would irrevocably damage his career at the very least. Therefore, Clarissa decides to dispose of the body and persuades her three houseguests to help. But before she can get the body off the premises, a policeman arrives at her front door. The police received an anonymous tip about a murder in the house and have shown up to investigate. Now Clarissa must keep the body hidden, convince the skeptical police inspector that there has been no murder, and, in the meantime, find out who has been murdered, why, and what the body is doing in her house.From Publishers WeeklyAs he did with Black Coffee (1998), Osborne has taken one of Christie's original play scripts and turned it into a (slight) novel. For those who can't see the play in production or who find a script dull or difficult reading, Osborne's adaptation may fill a need. But Osborne has added little flesh to the bones of the drama, which, with its single-room setting, absolutely retains the feel of a play merely masquerading as a novel rather than transformed into one. That's not all bad, as this novelization preserves the lightning-quick pace of the original. Christie's play had its premiere in 1958, yet remains undated by the passing years. When a stranger having car trouble at night on a lonely road enters a house through the French windows of its study, he finds an invalid who has been shot dead and a woman (his wife) standing nearby and holding a gun. Apparently on impulse, the stranger decides to help the woman hide her crime. Those two plus a small castAthe victim's mother; the victim's teenage half-brother; his housekeeper/secretary; and his male nurseAparade kaleidoscopically in and out of the study with two investigating police officers. Christie cleverly shifts suspicion and parcels out new facts and perspectives in marvelous fashion, proving ingeniously that the obvious isn't always obvious. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistLike a martini--crisp, dry, sophisticated, habit-forming, ever-so-slightly dated--Christite's smoothly polished mysteries go down easy. This one was written as a stage play, first performed in 1958, and is here adapted into novel form by Osborne, who last year published a novelization of Christie's Black Coffee . Like Christie's endlessly running Mousetrap, the plot here is full of twists around a single room, with people who are not what they seem. Michael Starkwedder's car runs into a ditch in Wales in the fog, and when he opens the French doors of the nearest house he finds an attractive woman with a gun in her hand, and the very dead corpse of her husband in a wheelchair in the same room. Mentally deficient relatives, loyal and twisted servants, patient inspectors, family secrets, and dramatic dialogue will satisfy all devotees of Christie's neat plotting, even without either Poirot or Marple. Ready for the beach or the fireside. GraceAnne A. DeCandido

His fantasies never involved having a family—until Seth met nurse Prudence Holloway and her baby. So when Pru needed a one-night groom, he gallantly offered his husbandly services. Pru might have done some irresponsible things in her life, but falling for Seth—aka Dr. Insufferable—would not be one of them. Unless, of course, Dr. Dangerous was serious about becoming a Dr. Daddy...

Sister Fidelma-an Eognacht princess and sister to the king of Cashel, a religieuse of the Celtic Church and an advocate of the Brehornn court-is one of the most interesting and compelling figures in contemporary mystery fiction. In this collection of short mysteries, Tremayne fills in many of the background details of Fidelma and seventh-century Ireland not found in the novels, and weaves his always-beguiling mix of history and mystery. **

From the time he was able to body slam a pillow, Michael dreamed of becoming a professional wrestler, vanquishing imaginary enemies and nagging self-doubt with every drop kick he landed. As his buddies hit the books, Michael got hit. When they left for college, he enrolled in Shane Stratford's Wrestling Academy, where cash -- and a particularly punishing "audition" -- afforded him a first look into a world part circus, part sport, and all spectacle. From penny-ante matches to national notoriety, Michael rises through the ranks of professional wrestling. Hopped up on speed, pumped up on steroids, and fueled by a frustration he can't quite name, he adopts and discards identities in a bid to find the "gimmick" that will make him complete. His search will bring him in contact with people weird and wonderful: athletes and actors, crazy fans and crooked managers, the full rich range of folks who revel in the ring. Combining elements of sports narrative a la "North Dallas 40, " the behind-the-scenes authenticity of "Pumping Iron, " and a flair for the bizarre that recalls John Irving, "Living the Gimmick" is a novel not soon forgotten.

“Stunning” short stories by the National Book Award–winning author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).  In this bestselling volume of stories, National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie challenges readers to see Native American Indians as the complex, modern, real people they are. The tender and tenacious tales of The Toughest Indian in the World introduce us to the one-hundred-eighteen-year-old Etta Joseph, former co-star and lover of John Wayne, and to the unnamed narrator of the title story, a young Indian journalist searching for togetherness one hitchhiker at a time. Countless other brilliant creations leap from Alexie’s mind in these nine stories. Upwardly mobile Indians yearn for a more authentic life, married Indian couples push apart while still cleaving together, and ordinary, everyday Indians hunt for meaning in their lives. The Toughest Indian in the World combines anger, humor, and beauty into radiant fictions, fiercely imagined, from one of America’s greatest writers. This ebook features an illustrated biography including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

This is one bad boy who's fit to print. A notorious jock tackles life—and love—after football with a type-A journalist in this sexy bad-boy romcom. As a former pro football star, Barrett Fox is used to playing the field. After injuries cut his NFL career short, his second act as a broadcaster ended when a hot mic moment got him cancelled. But this latest publicity stunt might just land him back on top—much to the chagrin of Catarina Everhart, the uptight, beautiful journalist who's been assigned to date a "bad boy" and tell the tale. She swears he'll never touch her, let alone kiss her, which is exactly the kind of challenge Barrett is up for... The cocky egomaniac assigned to partner with Catarina on this project seems to be doing everything in his power to make her hate him. Barrett is infamous for his bad behavior, and now, thanks to her boss's harebrained schemes, he's apparently Catarina's problem. But as one fake date...

Three great vampires--two Lords and a Lady--arrive on an unsuspecting Earth that teems with defenseless humans, easy prey for the marauding vampires. But humanity has defenders. Though the necroscope is gone, the psychically gifted men and women of E-Branch move swiftly against the vampire infestation. Jake Cutter is running for his life through the streets of Turin when he vanishes, appearing moments later inside the triply locked "Harry\'s room" in E-Branch\'s London HQ. Jake\'s dreams are very strange, filled with the voices of the dead--the Great majority, the Necroscope, Harry Keogh, even a dead vampire. He hears them all, but he doesn\'t truly understand. If Jake is the new Necroscope, he has to learn--fast!--how to control his powers and speak to the dead. E-Branch, with the reluctant Jake along for the ride, is about to go head-to-head with Malinari the Mind, a vampire Lord who psychic abilities are second to none. But the dead don\'t trust Jake, not like they trusted Harry. Jake\'s got personal revenge on his mind, and he\'s spending too much time talking that dead vampire. He\'s got to start thinking about the future--or he won\'t have one!

Three months after returning to England, Christopher Burton, receives a phone-call at the reception desk of the Rembrandt Hotel, Knightsbridge that informs him of his son's suicide. But why on receiving this terrible news, does Burton immediately decide that he must leave his Italian wife of thirty years standing? Why does he find it so difficult to focus on his grief for his son? Intensely dramatic, dark and, against all odds, hilariously funny, Destiny is a satisfying story and a profound meditation on marriage and identity. Parks gives us a frightening experience of what it means to tread the narrow line between sanity and psychosis.

Keladry of Mindalen, the first girl to train as a knight since Alanna, is officially a page now, but she's got three more years before she'll be a squire. And those three years are not going to be easy. Kel has to stand up against bullying boys, cruel older sisters, and, as always, the training master, Lord Wyldon! From the Hardcover edition.

A definitive anthology of fiction by W. Somerset Maugham includes the complete texts of three novels--The Moon and Sixpence, The Painted Veil, and The Magician--as well as five short stories--Rain, The Letter, Alien Corn, The Pool, and Mackintosh. Original.