"What are you looking for, sir?" he said. "Bloodstains." Scotland Yard is concerned with the murderer, or murderers, of the mysterious Bernard Pitt. The dead man is discovered with a false identity, courtesy of the many forged papers and documents found with him.The trail leads to France, where we discover why a French milliner chose to ride in a laundry basket, why the two American men are so interested in their wives' hat trimmings, and why it is so difficult for the French police to touch a criminal with high political connections. But Richardson discovers that the murder of Bernard Pitt was only an incident in the diabolical plot linking a network of criminals on both sides of the Channel.The Milliner's Hat Mystery, a novel which inspired Ian Fleming, was first published in 1937. This new edition, the first for many decades, includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans."Sir Basil Thomson is a past-master in the mysteries...

A girl who goes on a holiday and meets a man who forever changes her life. She finds four vanished girls photos in four passports - Where have the gone? A malevolent crocodile spirit which takes over her mind and consumes her being. A helicopter pilot who perhaps could find a way of escape but has vanished too. Perhaps the only way out is for her to join her lover and his eternal crocodile spirit

A poet at heart, Amy Minato rejects her life of consumption in Chicago to go back to nature—specifically, to a commune in Oregon, where she rediscovers herself. She also cops occasionally to the pretentiousness of her mission, and laughs along with the reader at her attempts to be both environmentally-friendly and sane, considering the fact that she's moved in with a bunch of strangers in a remote locale. Jan Muir, a relative of the great environmentalist John Muir, lends her beautiful black-and-white illustrations to the bookWritten with a grace and clarity of vision reminiscent of Annie Dillard's prose, Siesta Lane is both a practical case study in living green, and the heartwarming story of a modern idealist who dives head-first into the fray and discovers just what it takes to live a year unplugged. This is a must-read for armchair adventurers and a perfect, engaging primer for anyone who wants to stride confidently into the new, environmentally-conscious...

When Nora Griffin, an artist in her midthirties, moves from Brooklyn to Provincetown, she isn't looking for trouble. Her partner, Janelle, is recovering from breast cancer treatment, and together they've decided that the quiet off-season on the tip of Cape Cod is the perfect place for Janelle to heal and Nora to paint. Then charismatic Baby Harris flirts into Nora's life in her red cowboy boots.In the damp, windy winter, Nora contends with heartbreak, aging, and local environmental worries, while painting what she hopes will be her masterpiece. Along the way, she encounters the chain-smoking, motor scooter–driving landlady Miss Ruby; Reverend Patsy, the vegan minister of the Unitarian church; and Brunhilde, barista extraordinaire and rival for Baby's affections. As the first tourists begin to arrive in June, Nora must decide what she really wants from life.

How do you conjure a life? Give the truest account of what you saw, felt, learned, loved, strived for? For Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the surprising answer came in the form of an encyclopedia. In Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life she has ingeniously adapted this centuries-old format for conveying knowledge into a poignant, wise, often funny, fully realized memoir. Using mostly short entries organized from A to Z, many of which are cross-referenced, Rosenthal captures in wonderful and episodic detail the moments, observations, and emotions that comprise a contemporary life. Start anywhere--preferably at the beginning--and see how one young woman's alphabetized existence can open up and define the world in new and unexpected ways.An ordinary life, perhaps, but an extraordinary book.From the Hardcover edition.

When Archie goes in search of his missing son, Arden, in the Spanish Canary Islands, he stumbles upon a higher mission: to save his ailing fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Ella. Using a portal-jumping device called the Tillastrion, Archie and a strange creature, a Bangol named Zeno, are transported—along with a cruise ship full of people, including Ella and her mother, Tessa—to a magnificent yet terrifying island in another realm, a place called Jarr-Wya, where Archie hopes to locate Ella's cure. On Jarr-Wya, the Bangols battle the Olearons—creatures made of fire—and the evil Millia sands for control of Jarr-Wya. When Ella is captured by the Bangols, her wit and resourcefulness emerge as she fights against all odds, and against all manner of creatures, to survive. Meanwhile, Tessa, must confront her long-buried secrets, broken marriage, and a confusing new love triangle, all while navigating the mysterious island in search of her daughter. And unbeknownst...

Anna Quindlen first visited London from a chair in her suburban Philadelphia home--in one of her beloved childhood mystery novels. She has been back to London countless times since, through the pages of books and in person, and now, in Imagined London, she takes her own readers on a tour of this greatest of literary cities.While New York, Paris, and Dublin are also vividly portrayed in fiction, it is London, Quindlen argues, that has always been the star, both because of the primacy of English literature and the specificity of city descriptions. She bases her view of the city on her own detailed literary map, tracking the footsteps of her favorite characters: the places where Evelyn Waugh's bright young things danced until dawn, or where Lydia Bennett eloped with the dastardly Wickham.In Imagined London, Quindlen walks through the city, moving within blocks from the great books of the 19th century to the detective novels of the 20th to the new modernist...

As soon as Adam Kay set foot on a hospital ward for the first time, he realized there's quite a lot they don't teach you at medical school . . .His diaries from the NHS front line - scribbled in secret after long nights, endless days and missed weekends -are hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking by turns. This Is Going to Hurt is everything you wanted to know about being a junior doctor, and more than a few things you really didn't.And yes, it may leave a scar.

Arctic Norway freezes Leda’s social life until she meets Roar, a smoking hot guy with tattoos and secrets. Roar shouldn’t be drawn to Leda, but then he discovers a secret of her own. She’s the weapon that can save his planet. She just doesn’t know it yet.

A city torn apart by war. A family torn apart by tragedy At the top of Lester Road in London's East End stands 'Paddy's Castle', the three-storey, red-bricked Georgian house that is home to Grace Donnelly and her family. Life may be hard in the late 1930s, but it is nothing compared with what is about to follow. Grace's beloved fiancé Stanley decides to enlist in the fight against Nazi Germany. And as the sirens signal blitz after blitz of bombers, the family can only hide in the cellar and hope they will survive. But Grace has more than just the Germans to worry about. The good-looking Nobby Clark is keen to do more than just look out for his best friend's fiancée. And scheming barmaid Beryl Lovesett is determined to worm her way into the family home, seducing Grace's uncle with her fur coat, no knickers... A classic World War Two saga, Fur Coat, No Knickers is a perfect read...