Thirty-something single mum Beth Haldane is forced to become Dulwich's answer to Miss Marple when she stumbles over a murder victim on her first day at work. To clear her name, Beth is plunged into a cozy mystery that's a contemporary twist on Golden Age crime classics. But can she pull it off? She already has a bouncy young son, haughty cat, a fringe with a mind of its own and lots of bills to pay, as she struggles to keep up with the yummy mummies of SE21. Join Beth in #1 of the London Murder Mystery series, as she discovers the nastiest secrets can lurk in the nicest places.
Burial sites have long been recognized as a way to understand past civilizations. Yet, the meanings of our present day cemeteries have been virtually ignored, even though they reveal much about our cultures. Exploring an extraordinarily diverse range of memorial practice - Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Roman Catholic and Anglican, as well as the unchurched - The Secret Cemetery is an intriguing study of what these places of death mean to the living. Most of us experience cemeteries at a ritualized moment of loss. What we forget is that these are often places to which we return either as a general space in which to contemplate or as a specific site to be tended. These are also places where different communities can reinforce boundaries and even recreate a sense of homeland. Over time, ritual, artefact and place shape an intensely personal landscape of memory and mourning, a landscape more alive, more actively engaged with than many of the other places we inhabit.
Describes funerary architecture, monuments, memorials, and mausolea, together with the landscapes of cemeteries, from classical antiquity to the present. The book covers a wide range of chronology and geographical area, including the elaborate cemeteries created during the 18th century.
“This installment is all about impossible escapes and elusive spycraft….Another hit in this knockout thriller series featuring nonstop danger, casually clever descriptions of exotic locales, evolving characterization, and evenhanded sociopolitical commentary. Recommended for every beach bag.” —Booklist In the newest international thrill ride from New York Times-bestselling author Ridley Pearson, John Knox and Grace Chu, the incomparable and often incompatible duo, team up again, this time in the exotic “city between two worlds,” Istanbul. What’s it like to see yourself in a picture you never knew was taken? John Knox is an expert at surveillance and delicate, international dealings. So he is understandably thrown when David “Sarge” Dulwich, his contact at Rutherford Risk, hands him a photo of a transaction he recently facilitated in the Middle East. More curious to him, he’s shown that photo while in the Red Room, the private security company’s highly secure underground bunker, where eavesdropping is impossible and privacy ensured. Why all the cloak-and-dagger? Knox is pressured into accepting a job as an art broker in the mysterious Istanbul, a city situated on two continents where East meets West and Islam meets Christianity. It is a melting pot of spies, terrorists, and conflicting interests. Teamed with smart, quick, and fearless Grace Chu, Knox must navigate a murky operation, the only goal of which is to spend five minutes in the proximity of a man they’ve never met. Why? What can it possibly matter? And why are so many others bound and determined to see it never happens—at any cost?
